Mumbai: New Navi Mumbai Airport to Start with 12-Hour Operations, 23 Flights a Day
Navi Mumbai, 19th November 2025: India’s newest aviation gateway is finally ready for the skies. The Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), long anticipated as Mumbai’s crucial second airport, will open its runways to commercial traffic on December 25 with a tightly coordinated launch schedule, 23 flights a day and 12 hours of daily operations in its first month.
IndiGo Airlines will script history on Day One, operating both the airport’s inaugural arrival and departure. Officials said the first flight, arriving from Bengaluru, will touch down at 8:00 am, followed by the maiden outbound flight to Hyderabad at 8:40 am.
Inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 8, NMIA is adopting a phased operational rollout to ensure precision and safety from the very beginning. For the first month, the airport will function between 8 am and 8 pm, handling nearly 10 aircraft movements per hour within this controlled window.
Airport authorities said the measured approach will help stabilise passenger handling, apron management and terminal operations before scaling up activity. NMIA plans to switch to 24×7 operations by February 2026, after which flight movements will increase to 34 per day, gradually easing the burden on Mumbai’s overcrowded aviation network.
In preparation for the launch, extensive Operational Readiness and Airport Transfer (ORAT) trials are underway, involving airlines, security agencies, ground handlers and multiple stakeholders to ensure seamless coordination.
