First flight to Navi Mumbai International Airport will arrive from Bengaluru

Navi Mumbai: The first commercial flight to the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) at Ulwe in Raigad district will arrive from Bengaluru on 25 December, 2025 coinciding with the Christmas-New Year festivities.

The inauguration, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 8 October, set the stage for a carefully phased operational rollout, prioritising passenger safety, reliability, and comfort from day one.

The launch of NMIA will add capacity to the growing aviation needs of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) — as the second airport after the existing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai.

With the commissioning of NMIA, Mumbai is all set for a twin-airport model akin to Dubai’s DXB–DWC, London’s Heathrow–Gatwick, and New York’s JFK–Newark pairs.

From 25 December, IndiGo and Akasa Air will start operations at NMIA.

“The inaugural flight to arrive at NMIA will be IndiGo 6E460 from Bengaluru, scheduled to touchdown at 0800 hrs. Shortly after, IndiGo 6E882 will depart for Hyderabad at 0840 hrs, marking the first outbound service from the new airport,” a NMIA spokesperson said on Monday.

In the first month, NMIA will operate for 12 hours between 0800 hrs and 2000 hrs, handling 23 scheduled daily departures.

During this period, the airport will manage up to 10 flight movements per hour.

During the initial launch period, passengers will benefit from services operated by IndiGo, Air India Express, and Akasa Air, connecting Mumbai to 16 major domestic destinations.

Starting February 2026, the airport will transition to round-the-clock operations, expanding to 34 daily departures to meet the increasing needs of the MMR.

To ensure a seamless start, NMIA is conducting comprehensive Operational Readiness and Airport Transfer (ORAT) trials in collaboration with all stakeholders, including security agencies and airline partners.

Further strengthening its preparedness, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) was formally inducted at NMIA on 29 October 2025, with deployment across key airport functions.