Air India Express and IndiGo Begin Moving Flights to Navi Mumbai

Air India Group and IndiGo will gradually move part of their flying from Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) to Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA). The shift is meant to make way for the redevelopment of CSMIA's Terminal 1 and to spread air traffic across the city's two airports. A joint statement from Air India Group and Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL) was issued on Sunday.

Air India Express goes first

Air India Express will start in December 2026 with four daily domestic flights from NMIA. International operations follow from January 2027. Planned services to Kuwait, which still need regulatory approval, and existing services to Oman will move first.

The airline will then transfer its flights to Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam, Doha, Muscat and Sharjah. The whole process is expected to finish by the International Air Transport Association's Northern Summer 2027 season.

IndiGo's plan

IndiGo intends to begin international operations from NMIA in February 2027. It will progressively move 12 daily international departures out of CSMIA. Those flights currently link Mumbai with Bahrain, Riyadh, Dammam, Jeddah, Madinah, Kuwait, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah, Muscat, Dhaka and Jakarta.

A further daily service to Kathmandu will bring IndiGo's international network at NMIA to 12 destinations between February and July 2027. The airline will also move the domestic flights needed to support these international services and to let passengers transfer.

The reallocation of capacity is expected to ease pressure on the existing Mumbai airport, which has constraints while Terminal 1 is rebuilt. IndiGo said it would also leave room for its planned international expansion across Asia, Africa and Europe in 2027, using its growing fleet of A320, A321 and A321XLR aircraft. Further adjustments to IndiGo's operations at CSMIA Terminal 1 would be accommodated at Terminal 2.

Final transition dates will be announced once project coordination and the necessary operating approvals are complete. IndiGo and AAHL described the phased move as a way to strengthen Mumbai's dual-airport system, improve connectivity across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and give airlines greater capacity to expand.

AAHL operates eight airports, including CSMIA and NMIA. Air India Group operates more than 300 aircraft across 60 domestic and 51 international destinations. IndiGo flies more than 430 aircraft and nearly 2,200 daily flights to over 95 domestic and 40 international destinations.

Source: Fortune India