Navi Mumbai International Airport: First aircraft to land on October 31, Pune residents also eagerly await its opening

The first aircraft will land on the runway of Navi Mumbai International Airport (NAMIA) on October 31, 2024, though as a trial exercise.

The Airports Authority of India will conduct trial runs of the flights, starting August 8, 2024. The airport is set to witness its very first aircraft landing on October 31, 2024, on a trial basis.

In the end of this article, we discuss how this airport can be a game changer for flyers from Pune as well!

The AAI will begin the commissioning of the Instrument Landing System (ILS) by next week, kickstarting the flight-testing process. The ILS is a critical step in calibrating flight paths to ensure the airport’s operational readiness.

ILS is a precision runway approach aid based on two radio beams, providing pilots with vertical and horizontal guidance during landing. The localizer component offers lateral guidance to ensure aircraft alignment with the runway’s centerline, while the glide path component provides vertical guidance for altitude.

The ILS testing planned for last month itself but heavy rains hampered the operations and AAI could not finish the work, this work will now resume from August 12, 2024.

Responding to a question regarding any specific timeline to make the highway operational, the sources said, “If everything goes as per plans, we will see the first aircraft landing at the airport by October 31. However, this landing would be on a trial basis while the first phase of the airport will be operational by March 31, 2025.”

Navi Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd. (NMIAL) was recently allotted the location code “NMI” by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). It is a significant turning point for the airport and a move in the direction of obtaining its international identity. IATA codes, which are used to designate destinations and traffic documents for commercial airlines, are a crucial component of the aviation and tourism industries. Hundreds of electronic applications that have been developed around these coding systems for passenger and cargo transportation also operate more smoothly thanks to this three-letter code.

The airport’s first phase will handle 20 million passengers annually and half a million metric tons of cargo annually. The first and second phases will have just one runway, one terminal building, and a capacity of 2 crore passengers. Phases 3, 4, and 5 of the mega airport will have the second runway, four terminals, and an expanded passenger capacity of 9 crore.

Enhancing Connectivity for Pune

Navi Mumbai International Airport, once completed, will be game changer not only for the residents of Mumbai and Navi Mumbai but also for the people of Pune. With the missing link on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway due for completion by July 2025, the travel time from Pune to Mumbai will reduce by 25 minutes and the uncertainty of extra time due to traffic jams at ghat sections will also be eliminated as the missing link will bypass the ghat section through tunnels and a cable-stay bridge.

In addition, the MTHL (Atal Setu) Connector, which is being developed by Maharashtra Governement to provide direct connectivity between the expressway and MTHL will also provide a direct link from the expressway to Navi Mumbai Airport so that people coming from Pune can seamlessly drive right up to the airport.

As a result, Punekars will have another airport option to catch their flights from, especially people from western suburbs of Pune, living besides the Mumbai-Bangalore highway. Those living in Pashan, Baner, Balewadi, Hinjewadi, Tathawade, Punawle etc. will spend almost the same time traveling to Navi Mumbai International Airport as they do while traveling to Pune airport. In addition, from Navi Mumbai airport, they will get much better connectivity options for international and domestic travel.

Hence the inauguration of this airport is equally eagerly awaited by the residents of Pune as well.