Mumbai’s brand new airport, Navi Mumbai Airport, has announced that the date of its grand opening will now be set to June of this year, rather than the originally planned April 17 date.
The airport is highly anticipated, with plans to bolster the capacity of flights into Mumbai. Currently, the city uses the Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.
It’s been subject to criticism due to only having a single runway, even though it is the only airport serving one of the world’s largest cities. While two runways have been built, they intersect each other and can’t both be used at the same time.
Between 2023 and 2024, the airport received 52.8 million passengers, surpassing its maximum capacity of 50 million.
The new airport hopes to provide for up to 90 million passengers annually. It will do this through the use of two runways and four brand-new terminals.
India’s flag carrier, Air India, plans to begin trial flights to the new airport in April. Indigo plans to partially shift operations to Nimbi Mumbai airport, having conducted the first validation in December of 2024 with an Airbus A320.
