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Air India Express will begin operations from the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) with five daily flights connecting major metro cities Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata. The airline plans to expand to 20 daily departures after initial operations begin. In September, the airline announced 40 daily domestic flights in its first phase, connecting 15 cities. The Air India group aims to increase NMIA operations to 55 daily departures by mid-2026, including up to five international flights, and further to 120 daily departures and 60 arrivals by winter 2026.
When Navi Mumbai International Airport becomes operational in the coming months, Air India Express will start services with five daily departures to key metro destinations Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata. An official from the airline confirmed that this will mark the start of the carrier's hub operations at NMIA, alongside its existing hub at Bengaluru airport. Once operations stabilize, the airline plans to increase the frequency to 20 daily departures from Navi Mumbai. Advertisement
In September, Air India Express announced a larger network plan that includes 40 daily arrivals and departures connecting 15 Indian cities in the first phase of its domestic expansion. The Air India group outlined that it would scale up its NMIA operations to 55 daily departures by mid-2026, which would include up to five international flights. The group then expects to further grow to 120 daily departures and 60 arrivals by the winter of 2026, reflecting its long-term growth strategy under the Tata-owned Air India group.
The launch of NMIA is part of a broader plan to decongest the existing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) in Mumbai, which currently handles around 55 million passengers annually. NMIA, being developed in five phases, is designed to handle 20 million passengers per annum (MPPA) and 0.5 million metric tons (MMT) of cargo in its initial phase. Upon full completion, it will be capable of handling 90 MPPA and 3.2 MMT of cargo annually. Ticket bookings for flights from NMIA are expected to begin about a month before its official opening, and passengers will be able to choose between the two airports when booking flights.
Due to delays in the airport's completion, the planned airline expansions will now likely take shape toward late next year. Other airlines, including IndiGo and Akasa Air, have also announced their plans for the new airport. IndiGo intends to start with 36 domestic flights connecting 15 cities from the first day of operations and increase its frequency to 158 daily flights, including 14 international departures, by November next year. Akasa Air has planned to begin with daily domestic flights and increase operations to over 40 flights, including 8-10 international services, by summer 2026.
The planned expansion by Air India Express and other carriers highlights growing demand for both domestic and international air travel. Once fully operational, NMIA's capacity, along with that of Mumbai's existing airport, will allow both airports to jointly handle up to 145 million passengers per year by 2032, significantly strengthening Mumbai's position as a key aviation hub in the region.
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