The promise of the Navi Mumbai airport

begin with the good news. On October 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA).

- Anjuli Bhargava

The first phase of the NMIA, built at a cost of just under ₹20,000 crore, is expected to be operational from December, one year post the initial deadline of December 2024. The initial handling capacity of the solo functioning terminal is expected to be around 20 million passengers a year.

The NMIA constitutes a memorable milestone for India’s aviation sector. It would not be an overstatement to say that India’s aviation sector and airlines over the years have paid a very high price for the failure of successive Indian governments to build a much-needed second airport in the country's financial capital.

Back in 2005-2006, Jet Airways, which was one of the leading airlines then headquartered out of Mumbai, had even begun to levy a congestion surcharge after it estimated it was losing $6 million every quarter on account of this.

Newer Mumbai-headquartered airlines such as Akasa Air have been forced to park aircraft at Bengaluru and other locations due to the nonavailability of parking bays at Mumbai. Time slots for airlines are virtually impossible to come by.