Navi Mumbai, December 29: Arun Bansal, CEO of Adani Airports Holdings Ltd, on Sunday, said they are fairly confident of inaugurating the Navi Mumbai airport sometime in April next year, and commercial flights in the second half of May 2025.

The Navi Mumbai airport took a monumental step toward becoming operational with its first commercial flight validation test on Sunday, in the presence of regulators from the domestic aviation sector. Navi Mumbai International Airport Successfully Conducts First Flight Validation Test As A320 Aircraft From IndiGo Airlines Lands on Runway (Watch Videos).

The runway 08/26 at the under-construction Navi Mumbai International Airport came alive as an A320 aircraft from Indigo Airlines successfully touched down, marking a historic milestone in the international airport's journey toward becoming fully operational, Navi Mumbai International Airport Private Limited said in a statement Sunday. The aircraft was welcomed with the traditional water salute by fire tenders.

The first commercial flight validation test exercise includes technical assessment, and landing and take-off manoeuvres, paving the way for the DGCA to validate the data collected from the flight and for the airport to receive the aerodrome license, which is essential to operate the airport. Navi Mumbai International Airport’s First 2 Phases To Be Commissioned by March 2025 With 20 Million Passengers Handling Capacity per Annum.

Post the successful landing, the airport's established flight procedures will be published in the Electronic Aeronautical Information Publication (eAIP) for international promulgation.

Prior to the landing of the validation flight, NMIA successfully conducted the flight calibration of the Instrument Landing System (ILS) and Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI), subsequently drafting instrument approach procedures to prepare itself for the arrival of the validation flight.

The greenfield Navi Mumbai airport will have two parallel runways, enabling two aircraft to land and take off simultaneously. "There will be 2 parallel runways which will double the passenger capacity compared to Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport... We are confident that by April we can inaugurate the airport... We hope that the airport will open commercially by the second half of May...," Arun Bansal told reporters today, post the first commercial flight validation test.

On October 11, 2024, the inaugural landing of an Indian Air Force C-295, a large multi-role tactical airlifter, took place, representing a significant milestone in the development of the greenfield international airport, which is scheduled to be operational in early 2025.

The Navi Mumbai airport project is proposed to be developed in multiple phases; once complete the airport will have the capacity to manage over 90 million passengers per annum (MPPA). In the initial phase, it is implementing a passenger capacity of 20 MPPA and 800,000 tons per annum of cargo handling capacity.

The Navi Mumbai airport will feature a 3,700-meter runway capable of handling large commercial aircraft, modern passenger terminals, and advanced air traffic control systems. Adani Airport Holdings Limited was incorporated in 2019 as a 100 per cent subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd, the flagship company of the Adani Group.

The Adani Group had made its maiden venture into the airports sector by emerging as the highest bidder for the operation, management, and development of six airports: Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthapuram, and signing concession agreements with the Airport Authority of India for all six airports.

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