An Indian Air Force aircraft during a trial landing at Navi Mumbai International Airport, on October 11, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) Airport Code: NMI), an Adani Airport on Friday (October 11, 2024) announced the inaugural landing of an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft — the IAF C-295 which successfully touched down on its South runway.
The greenfield international airport which has been under development since 2017 is scheduled to be operational in early 2025.
Jeet Adani, Director, Adani Airport Holdings Ltd said, “As AAHL’s first greenfield airport, NMIAL represents years of planning, investment and hard work.”
“This world-class airport will play a pivotal role in the region’s growth, serving as a crucial hub for travellers across the globe,” he added.
“The successful touchdown of the IAF C-295 marks an essential phase where the newly built runway, taxiways, air traffic control systems and handling procedures are put to the test to ensure that the airport meets all safety, regulatory and operational requirements,” the company said.
“It allows engineers, aviation authorities and airport operators to evaluate the performance and readiness of key infrastructure and signifies that the airport is on track to complete its final stages of development, paving the way for phased commercial operations set to begin in early 2025,” the company added.
“Additionally, this landing demonstrates NMIAL’s capacity, preparedness and readiness for joint operations between civilian and military authorities for a variety of potential missions, including disaster response and emergency landings,” it further said.
NMIAL is designed to accommodate both domestic and international passengers, featuring latest facilities, including a 3,700-metre runway capable of handling large commercial aircraft, modern passenger terminals and advanced air traffic control systems.
Terminal 1 is projected to handle up to 20 million passengers per annum (MPPA).
The airport will ultimately have a capacity to handle 90 million passengers per annum (MPPA), along with 800,000 tons of cargo in its initial phase, the company said.
Opposition slams CM Shinde over IAF C-295 landing at Navi Mumbai airport
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Minister of State for Aviation Murlidhar Mohol attended the inaugural landing of IAF aircraft C-295. While the Chief Minister declared that commercial operations will likely begin by March, 2025, he said the government was ready for “flight and fight.” The comments were made on the background of the upcoming Maharashtra elections.
But the Opposition slammed the government for the event which was organised at an under-construction airport and an unfinished runway. “By landing the IAF’s C-295 aircraft at an unfinished #NaviMumbai International Airport, the#BJP led #MahaYuti Maharashtra government’s fake election stunt has taken off,” Clyde Crasto, national spokesperson for NCP-SP party posted on social media platform X.
Shiv Sena UBT leader Aaditya Thackeray hit out at the State government, asking everyone to find information about the C-295 aircrafts. “Maharashtra Chief Minister has done a stunt today by landing on the runway. He landed from C-295. Please check the Airbus website for the speciality of this C-295 aircraft. It can take off and land at short and unpaved runways. This is the information given by Airbus. The question is, the work of the airport is still going on. The proposal for naming the airport after D B Patil is still pending. But when you can call meetings for the benefit of Adani, why can’t you take this decision? This is not the airport of the Air Force. This is a civilian airport. Till terminal building, clearances are in place, how can one consider the airport to be complete?,” he asked.
He asked the government to stop this ‘stunt’ and name the airport at the earliest after D B Patil.
(With inputs from Vinaya Deshpande Pandit)
Published – October 11, 2024 08:40 pm IST
