Navi Mumbai International Airport goes live: Check flights, routes, timings & connectivity
Commercial flight operations formally began from the newly inaugurated Navi Mumbai International Airport on Thursday, marking the second global airport in Maharashtra. The project, which was developed through a special purpose vehicle, was also executed in multiple phases.
After the inauguration, the Air India Express service took off for Bengaluru, with the landmark moment marked by a special ceremony at NMIA, during which the airline handed the first passenger a commemorative boarding pass. IndiGo flight 6E460 from Bengaluru also arrived at Navi Mumbai International Airport at 8 am and was greeted with a traditional water cannon salute, where fire tenders spray arches of water over the aircraft as it taxis.
What are the routes, operating hours and connectivity?
According to the Times of India, the airport operator stated that 15 scheduled departures were planned on the first day. In the initial stage, airport operations will run for 12 hours daily, from 8 am to 8 pm, with facilities to support up to 24 departures a day across 13 destinations. The airport can also accommodate as many as 10 aircraft movements every hour.
Travel time from Worli in south Mumbai is estimated at about 70 minutes via the Reach Freeway, Atal Setu and Ulwe–Belapur Road. Commuters from Powai in the eastern suburbs are expected to take a similar time using the Eastern Express Highway and Vashi Bridge.
Residents of Thane can reach the airport in roughly 60 minutes, while those travelling from Goregaon in the western suburbs may require up to 95 minutes during peak traffic. Journeys from Mira Road and Kalyan-Dombivli could exceed two hours during rush hours.
Passengers from Airoli–Belapur can access the airport via Thane–Belapur Road or Palm Beach Road, while travellers from Kharghar–Panvel are advised to use the Sion–Panvel Road through Kalamboli Circle. Commuters from Mumbai’s western suburbs may continue opting for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport unless Navi Mumbai Airport offers cheaper fares or substantially quicker connectivity.
IndiGo, which commenced operations at the new airport with its first arrival from Bengaluru and first departure to Hyderabad has also announced an initial network connecting NMIA to 13 destinations, including daily flights to Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Nagpur, Cochin, Delhi, Hyderabad, Lucknow, and Jaipur, along with services to Goa (Mopa), Chennai, Coimbatore and Vadodara on select days.