A person takes pictures of a passenger aircraft landing at Navi Mumbai Airport
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Navi Mumbai airport is set to handle international flights from July 15, chief executive officer BVJK Sharma said on Wednesday.We will be starting with freighters from July 15 and we expect the movements to ramp up to 18 per week. The good news is that there is movement on passenger side and hopefully from July 15 international passenger flights will also start,” Sharma said on the sidelines of Brihanmumbai Custom Brokers Association’s logistics conclave. Air India Express and IndiGo are expected to start flights on short haul routes. Air India Express has filed international route plans with the airport, he added.While initially international flights were expected to start from March end, plans were deferred due to tensions in West Asia. On Tuesday, member (customs) Yogendra Garg reviewed the airport’s readiness to handle international operations and final approval is expected this week.Navi Mumbai airport began operations last Christmas with 46 daily flights. These have increased to 149 daily flights connecting 46 domestic destinations. By December operations are expected to scale up to 300 daily flights.The airport has handled over two million passengers till now since launch and is handling around 20,000 passengers daily, Sharma said.The Adani group-run airport is also redesigning it’s growth plans. At present the airport has a capacity to handle 20 million passengers annually. Originally a passenger terminal with 30 million annual capacity was being planned in the second phase. Now the airport management is considering building a larger terminal to handle 50 million passengers in the next phase.“The design work for the proposed terminal has started. The idea is to build one core and shell. We will open up in parts based on demand and supply,” he said.Published on June 17, 2026
