EXCLUSIVE | Navi Mumbai International Airport: ‘Better connected than any airport in the world’ - Jeet Adani on launch, capacity, expansion plans

As the first flight is set take off from the swanky Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) in just four days, Jeet Adani, Director of Adani Airports Holdings Limited (AAHL), made a bold prediction stating that once the project reaches full maturity, it will be the most accessible aviation hub in the world.

In an exclusive interview with Hersh Sayta, Editor - Research & Markets Anchor at ET NOW, ahead of the launch of the Navi Mumbai Airport on December 25, Jeet Adani acknowledged the immediate challenges of launching a new airport, emphasising that the project was designed from to be a premier multimodal hub from day one.

On being asked by ET NOW about the challenges faced by the Adani Group with regard to adopting a new airport, Jeet highlighted the primary concern of travellers—convenience. He stressed that Navi Mumbai is being built as a multi-modal home hub.

Navi Mumbai Airport’s unmatched multimodal connectivity

“Two things, one main obviously the biggest thing is convenience. So, from a convenience point of view what people look for when they see a new airport being built, the first thing that comes in everyone's mind is that it's going to be too inconvenient to go there. So, at least that ways Navi Mumbai has solved some part of the hurdle up front,” he said while speaking exclusively to ET NOW.

He said while some infrastructure is still in development, the connectivity roadmap is unprecedented. “From a roadways point of view, the connectivity is quite good, it's connected through the ceiling to the southern island through Vashi bridge and Sion Expressway, from the suburbs. And on the eastern side as well, it has good connectivity to the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. But, there's still some development that needs to be done which is the Ulwe coastal road. The Navi Mumbai coastal road being built will give it direct connectivity without signal once you get onto that ceiling. The Worli Sea Link also is planned to be opened soon that will further…I mean you know it's very far away if you think about it but that's how the network. You unlock that bottleneck and suddenly entire new demand bubble comes in. So, that's what we think on the roadway point of view but our thought process was very clear on day one,” he said.

Jeet further stated, “This has to be a multimodal home hub that you have connectivity from road, bus, train, metro, suburban, mono rail, water, vertiports, high speed rail and that's actually what's going on. So, there's a highspeed rail station coming on the eastern side of our site within our site which will connect directly into the airport. The metro line is being planned which will be ready by the time we have terminal 2 ready. Suburban rail is on, bus routes are already on. So, I think it's coming up well. I don't think it'll be there on day one, but as we go through the first sort of phase of maturity, I will be damned for anyone to find an airport better connected than this in the world.”

In the interview, Jeet reflected on the "sweat, blood, and tears" that have gone into the project over the last four years. “It feels amazing. I mean we're finally here. It took a long time but a lot of sweat, blood and tears have gone into this place. But I think I'm very proud. It's come out really well,” he stated.

Adani Group’s ‘slow burn’ strategy

On the expectations and output regarding the airport, he said the Adani Group is opting for a "rolling start" rather than a "big bang" launch to ensure operational stability.

“I think it's been better than expectations, quite honestly. When you're sort of conceptualizing a place like this, you don't think about the finer details until you actually see it in person. And that's really come out much better than I had thought. I have to give credit to my team as well who’s able been day in day out been handling this over the last three and a half four years. But it’s 25th, we're starting now for with the first flight. And, slow ramp up but that's what we wanted. We wanted no complaints on day one is a job well done rather than a big bang,” he stated.

“The first month, we're starting with 12-hour operations. There's part of the terminal in the international side which we're still working on. So, to make sure that we are able to continue work in same efficiency, we're doing 12 on 12 off. At the same time, the equipment, the air navigation and air traffic equipment are getting calibrated with real flights. The initial calibration is done but an operational calibration and training of the operators over there,” Jeet said.

“That's why for the first one month, we are limiting ourselves to at most a capacity of eight flights an hour. As per the plan, we're doing about 24 flights in a day...this will scale up over the after the first month once we move to 24-hour operations and unlocking the value from the ATC, we will be able to move up to 24 to 30 flights per and that's the scale up. Now in terms of actual utilization, the kind of plans that we've seen… 4-5 airlines the domestic airlines that we've spoken to between both international as well as domestic ops, we think that we will hit a run rate of capacity by the end of next financial year,” Jeet said adding that he expects the facility to reach its Phase 1 run rate of 20 million passengers per annum (MPPA).

Solving the ‘chock-a-block’ crisis

The opening of the airport arrives as a critical relief valve for the Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), which currently handles 55 million passengers annually.

Jeet described CSMIA as "chock-a-block," operating at a technical maximum due to its single-runway constraints. “Chock-a-block. I mean you see it with the stories of how long it takes no holding in the air, how much time it takes to finally get a slot to land. And that’s because that airport is a single runway. It's a cross runway airport but effectively a single runway. And because of that there are limitations of how many flights can land in a single hour. They are hitting the technical maximum that they can,” he said.

The AAHL Director added, “They were actually was the most efficient airport in the world I think two-three years in a row. This has been the case since the last 5 years. It hit full capacity before Covid. Covid just gave breathing time otherwise this problem would have been much severe. So, that's why this has unlocked a lot of additional supply which is going to be able to solve the latent demand that exists in the MMR region.”

Inside The Navi Mumbai Airport | Jeet Adani on Launch, Capacity & Big Expansion Plans | ET Now | WATCH FULL VIDEO