The much-awaited green field Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) is set for inauguration soon,  likely on September 30, heralding a new era in the development of Navi Mumbai, the first planned satellite city of India's financial capital, Mumbai. NMIA will be the second airport for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), and is envisaged to reduce traffic at the Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport(CSMIA) at Andheri in the Western suburbs.  

Located in Ulwe near Panvel, the project spans an area of 1,160 hectares and is scheduled for completion in five phases. In the launch phase, the airport will have the capacity to handle 20 Million Passengers Per Annum (MPPA) and handle 0.5 Million Metric Tons (MMT) of cargo. Terminal 2, Terminals 3 & 4 and the second runway will come up in the coming years, with Terminal 2 scheduled for completion by FY 2028-29. After completion, the airport will be able to carry 90 million passengers.

Currently, a 3.70-kilometre runway is ready, and the second runway is under construction. More than 13,000 workers are associated with construction, and final touches are going on to inaugurate the airport with a September 30 deadline.

On 11 October 2024, an Indian Air Force C-295, a large multi-role tactical airlifter aircraft, landed at the Greenfield International Airport, the first to touch down. An A320 aircraft from Indigo Airlines also successfully landed at the airport runway as part of the initial commercial flight validation tests.

Multimodal connectivity

Planned as one of the largest greenfield airports in the world, NMIAL will have multimodal connectivity, including express highways, arterial roads, suburban rails, elevated and underground metro networks  and water connectivity. The 22-kilometre Atal Sethu bridge over the sea between Uran and Sewri will be the main linkage to South Mumbai from the airport, reducing travel time to less than 40 minutes.  The existing widened Sion-Panvel Highway, connected to Palm Beach Road and Amra Marg (connecting JNPT and South Mumbai) will be another major route to reach the new airport. Palm Beach Road also provides faster connectivity to NMIA from Thane and the western suburbs. This will have an elevated road in future, directly linking to the airport.

At present, multiple flyovers connecting to the airport are under construction, and it may take months for completion. New flyovers at Kalamboli junction on the Sion-Panvel highway, which connects national highways 48 and 548 and three state highways, are set for a complete transformation. The two-level interchange project costing Rs 482 crore will have five roads of 5 km each, seven flyovers of 3 km, and two signal-free underpasses, ensuring seamless traffic to the new airport. Already, the work has begun at the Kalamboli junction.  

Metro lines are also going to come up. One envisaged connection is Metro 8 from CSMIA to Pendhar near NMIA. The metro network from the under-construction Mankhurd metro station will be extended to the new airport. Another line will be an extension of the existing metro network from Taloja to the airport to provide easy access for passengers from the Thane side. Targhar station near NMIA will act as the key suburban railway station for Mumbai's extensive suburban train network to reach the airport. To get water connectivity for passengers and cargo movement from Mumbai and other suburbs, a water terminal is being constructed at Panvel Creek adjacent to the airport.

A three-decade wait

In 1997, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) decided to find new sites suitable for a second airport near Mumbai, to solve increasing future traffic and the inability to further expand the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. A committee formed for the purpose found a site at Mandwa–Rewas, but it had the option of constructing only one runway. The Airports Authority of India (AAI)'s sub-committee found the Navi Mumbai site in Uran-Panvel belt suitable and suggested CIDCO carry out a detailed Techno-Economic Feasibility Study (TEFS), which got ready by 2001. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) conducted a simulation study and gave a green signal for the seamless operation of two airports in Mumbai. By 2007, CIDCO submitted a Project Feasibility and Business Plan Report to the MoCA, and the project received in-principle approval from the Union Cabinet in July 2007.

In January 2008, CIDCO appointed Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) to prepare the master plan and soon the Government of Maharashtra granted approval for development of the project on a Public-Private Partnership basis. CIDCO was appointed as the nodal agency to implement the project. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) also gave its clearance in 2008.  

CIDCO invited global tenders for requests for qualification (RFQ) in February 2014. There were four serious bidder consortiums - GMR Group, the GVK-led MIAL, Hiranandani Group- Zurich Airport and Mia Infrastructure with Tata Realty and Infrastructure. After many rounds of scrutiny and re-bidding, the project was finally awarded to GVK-led MIAL in February 2017.

The project required the relocation of 2,786 households and villagers, mainly fishermen, farmers, or those who work odd jobs, located across 10 villages at Chinchpada, Kopar, Kolhi, Ulwe, Varcha (Upper) Owle, Waghivalivada, Vaghivali, Ganeshpuri, Targhar, and Kombadbhuje.  Despite many years of protests and discussions, CIDCO managed to compensate land owners by offering Rs1,500 per sq ft of the land, rent for 18 months, and a developed plot of land of a size equal to triple the roof area in their relocation area of Pushpak Nagar near the airport.

Adani takes charge

The Adani Group took over the management of the airport in 2021, following its acquisition of GVKs Mumbai airport. CIDCO handed over the entire 2,866 acres of land to Adani by July 2022. Thereafter, construction was in full swing.

''Delivering this airport has been a monumental task. Our team and stakeholders have truly moved mountains—both literally and figuratively. The project involved complex challenges, including rerouting an entire river system around the site. Despite these hurdles, the journey has been immensely rewarding, showcasing our ability to execute large-scale infrastructure with precision and resilience,''  Jeet Adani,  director of  Adani Airport Holdings Limited (AAHL), a subsidiary of the group's flagship Adani Enterprises, told Fortune India in an interview in June.

Pre-development work included flattening the Ulwe Hill, reclaiming marshlands, diverting the Ulwe River outside the airport boundary and widening the channel to 60 metres, shifting power transmission lines, and raising the project site by 5.5 metres with land filling.  London-based Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) was selected to design the airport's Terminal 1 and the ATC tower by March 2018. In September 2019, Larsen and Toubro (L&T)was awarded the contract for the construction of the airport.

For over a decade, MMR (Mumbai Metropolitan Region) has been underserved due to capacity constraints at CSMIA (Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport). With NMIA now operational, we’re reigniting the region’s aviation potential, says Jeet Adani. Most flights from NMIA will be incremental, expanding overall capacity rather than shifting existing traffic. ''Given the strength of India’s domestic airline sector, we anticipate NMIA Phase 1 reaching full capacity within two years. Over the next 15 years, we’ll continue expanding NMIA to meet demand. Both airports will handle domestic and international flights, but we foresee international operations being optimised based on global alliances and codeshare partnerships'', he says.