Navi Mumbai International Airport with 90M passenger capacity to open Oct 8; Gautam Adani reviews site

Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), India’s long-awaited greenfield airport project, is set to be inaugurated on October 8 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Ahead of the milestone, Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani personally visited the site on Wednesday to review final preparations and connect with the people who helped bring the project to life.

During his site inspection, Adani walked through the airport’s terminals, reviewed operational readiness, and interacted with engineers, construction workers, security staff, firefighters, women employees, and differently-abled team members.

In a heartfelt post on social media, Gautam Adani wrote:

“Ahead of the inauguration of Navi Mumbai International Airport on 8 Oct, I met with our differently-abled colleagues, construction workers, women staff, engineers, artisans, fire fighters, and the guards who helped bring this vision to life.

I felt the pulse of a living wonder – a monument shaped by thousands of hands and hearts. When millions of flights take to the skies and billions walk through these halls, the spirit of these people will echo through every takeoff and every step – and to them, I offer my deepest gratitude. Jai Hind.”

Designed to ultimately handle 90 million passengers annually, NMIA will be one of the world’s largest airports. The project is being developed jointly by the Adani Group and Maharashtra’s town planning authority CIDCO in five phases.

The first phase alone will accommodate 20 million passengers per annum (MPPA) and handle 0.5 million metric tons of cargo.

In a major regulatory step, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has now granted NMIA its Aerodrome Licence, clearing the way for operations.

The licence, awarded after meeting stringent safety and compliance requirements, marks a critical milestone in the airport’s journey.

Adani described the airport as “more than an airport, a monument to the spirit of Bharat, built by its people, for its people.”

With final touches now underway, Navi Mumbai International Airport is poised to ease congestion at Mumbai’s existing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, boost regional and global connectivity, and act as a new economic catalyst for Maharashtra and India.