NAVI MUMBAI: After years of delays, the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) officially opened for commercial operations on Thursday, providing a second gateway for air travel in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).On its first day, four airlines — IndiGo, Air India Express, Akasa Air, and Star Air — will operate around 30 domestic flights. The first scheduled arrival will be an IndiGo flight from Bengaluru at 8am, while the first departure, also operated by IndiGo, is a morning service to Hyderabad at 8.40am. The terminal building will open to departing passengers at 6.40 am, an NMIA spokesperson said.
First flights at Navi Mumbai airport
Routes and access times from Major MMR areasImmediate road access from various parts of MMR is as follows (peak-hour travel times):
- Island City (Worli): 35 km via Reach Freeway, Atal Setu, Ulwe-Belapur Road — 70 mins
- Eastern Suburbs (Powai): 34 km via Eastern Express Highway, Vashi Bridge, Thane-Belapur Road, Belapur-Ulwe Road — 70 mins
- Thane (Viviana Mall): 34 km via Eastern Express Highway, Mulund-Airoli Road, Thane-Belapur Road, Belapur-Ulwe Road — 60 mins
- Western Suburbs (Goregaon/Oberoi Mall): 45 km via Western Express Highway, JVLR, Eastern Express Highway, Vashi Bridge, Thane-Belapur Road, Belapur-Ulwe Road — 95 mins
- Mira Road (Beverly Park): 50 km via Ghodbunder Road, Thane-Belapur Road, Belapur-Ulwe Road — 135 mins
- Navi Mumbai (Vashi): 14 km via Palm Beach Road, Belapur-Ulwe Road — 30 mins
- Kalyan, Dombivli, Badlapur, Ambernath (Kalyan Jn): 37 km via Shilphata Road, Sion-Panvel Highway, Ulwe-Belapur Road — 120 mins
Residents of Airoli-Belapur can take Thane-Belapur Road or Palm Beach Road, while those in Kharghar-Panvel can use Sion-Panvel Road via Kalamboli Circle to reach the airport. Western suburb residents may still prefer Mumbai’s existing airport unless cheaper fares or faster services are offered.
Initial operations On day one, NMIA will operate between 8 am and 8 pm, with 15 scheduled departures to nine domestic destinations. The airport will gradually scale up to 24 daily departures across 13 destinations, with a capability of up to 10 aircraft movements per hour. By February 2026, round-the-clock operations are planned.Passenger services will include Digi Yatra-enabled contactless processing alongside conventional check-in counters. Retail and food offerings have been curated for affordability and local preferences.Infrastructure and capacityTerminal 1 and one operational runway are functional in the initial phase. The terminal has an annual capacity of 20 million passengers and can accommodate 2–3 million passengers beyond this limit. The airport is located 35–50 km from North and South Mumbai and 35–45 km from the eastern suburbs.
