Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the Navi Mumbai International Airport is set to be commercially operational by March 2025.
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He said the airport is not just an important infrastructure project for Mumbai or Maharashtra, but is a project of pride for the entire nation.
He inspected the ongoing construction and said the project, initiated in 2018, is 55-60% complete.
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The initial phases will see the creation of one runway and one terminal with a passenger capacity of two crore, by March 31, 2025, he said. The subsequent phases will introduce a second runway, four terminals, and increase passenger capacity to nine crore.
“The airport aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of multimodal connectivity under the Gati Shakti Yojana, featuring road, rail, and metro links, with potential water connectivity,” Mr. Scindia said.
Contrary to Mr. Scindia’s claims, in June last year, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis stated that the airport would become operational by the end of 2024.
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Connecting to major highways, the country’s longest sea bridge, and various rail and metro lines, the Navi Mumbai International Airport aims for innovative transportation, including hovercraft and cargo liners in the future. There are plans to connect it through hovercraft from Colaba in south Mumbai and cargo liners from Raigad in phase 2.
Spanning 1,600 hectares, the new airport boasts automated passenger movement.
Mr. Scindia also highlighted the government’s goal to double domestic air passenger traffic to 30 crore by 2030, with plans to establish over 200 airports in the next six years.