Navi Mumbai airport operational from March 2025: MoS

The runway expansion would enable Type B and D aircraft to operate from Pune. (Reuters)

The Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) will be ready by March 2025 and start operations immediately, Murlidhar Mohol, Union minister of state for civil aviation, said on Sunday.

Mohol said around 70% of the work at NMIA, which was to be ready by December 2024, had been was complete, and the remaining 30% of work would be completed by March, Mohol said in Pune on Sunday.

He also announced expansion plans for Pune airport, which would enable wider-body aircraft to land   and help improve international connectivity from Pune.  Mohol was on his maiden visit to Pune, his constituency, after taking over as minister.

He met Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials to review expansion plans of the existing Pune airport and issues facing the opening of a new terminal in Pune.  The minister said the runway at Pune airport will be expanded, as it could currently only handle Type C aircraft.

The runway expansion would enable Type B and D aircraft to operate from Pune. The airport would need to acquire 35 acres, including defence and privately owned land, for this.

The officials will met defence minister Rajnath Singh to facilitate defence land acquisition and defence ministry clearances for the runway expansion. Around 60% of the compensation for land owners would come from Maharashtra government, 20% from the Pune Municipal Corporation and 10% each from the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation and the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority.

While the new Rs 475 crore terminal building at Pune airport is ready, it is not yet operational due to lack of security personnel. AAI is also awaiting regulatory clearance from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security.

Mohol said he has reached out to home minister  Amit Shah to augment the CISF force. The new terminal will be operational as soon as we get the CISF manpower, he said.

The minister also said the Director General of Civil Aviation had approved the Purandar site for Pune’s greenfield international airport.  All technical clearances for the international airport at Purandar are in place, he said.  The land acquisition process will now start, he added.