Domestic carriers IndiGo Airlines and Akasa Air are set to start flights from the newly constructed second Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) airport in Navi Mumbai from next month.
Amid this development, here’s a look at what routes the two airlines will fly, which cities should be connected and other details.
IndiGo provides domestic services to 10 cities
- According to a PTI report, IndiGo this week said it will start flights from Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) from December 25, connecting 10 cities.
- To which cities will IndiGo offer services from the new MMR airport? According to the airline, it will launch flights to 10 cities across India, including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Cochin, Delhi, Goa – Mopa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mangalore and Nagpur.
- It is also planned to expand to more cities by increasing the number of destinations with direct routes at the right time, he added.
IndiGo operates more than 2,300 flights every day to more than 130 destinations, including 90 domestic airports, the report said. The carrier had 409 aircraft in its fleet as of Nov. 14, with 362 in service and 47 on the ground, according to data on flight tracking website Planespotter.net, he added.
Akasa Air will begin “distributed” operations from NMIA
- Relatively newer carrier Akasa Air also announced last week that it will start operations from NMIA on December 25 in a “staggered manner”, according to another PTI report.
- Akasa Air will start direct connections to four cities, with the first flight on December 25 between MMR and Delhi.
- In the coming days, the airline plans to launch flights to three more cities including Ahmedabad, Goa and Cochin.
- For its “staggered” schedule, the airline said it wants to “gradually increase traffic” by expanding to 300 domestic flights and 50 international departures per week from NMIA over a period of time.
- Akasa said its strategy would include increasing the number of parking bases at the airport to 10 by the end of FY27, “with a focus on international expansion into key markets in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.”
“For Akasa Air, NMIA strengthens our strategic presence in MMR and Western India, enabling us to optimize capacity deployment and capture new demand groups across the board,” Praveen Iyer, co-founder and chief commercial officer of Akasa Air, said in a statement.
About Navi Mumbai International Airport
The first phase of the newly constructed Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 8 this year with plans to start operations from December 2025.
Built for a price ₹The 1,160-hectare, 19,650-million-hectare first phase has one terminal and one runway with an annual passenger handling capacity of 2 million.
Strategically located, NMIA has been designed to complement the existing Mumbai International Airport (MIA) and cater to the growing demand for air transport from India’s financial capital. It is expected to play a key role in enhancing regional connectivity and promoting economic development in western India.
