An IndiGo aircraft makes a landing at Navi Mumbai International Airport on December 25, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI

An IndiGo aircraft makes a landing at Navi Mumbai International Airport on December 25, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Adani Group plans to invest ₹1 lakh crore in its airports business over the next five years, betting on sustained growth in India’s aviation sector, which is expected to expand at 15-16% annually, a top group official said.

“On the airport side, ₹1 lakh crore in the next five years,” Jeet Adani, director of Adani Airports and younger son of billionaire Gautam Adani, told PTI ahead of the start of commercial operations at Navi Mumbai International Airport on December 25.

Navi Mumbai International Airport will become the latest addition to the Adani Group’s expanding airport portfolio, further strengthening its presence in India’s aviation infrastructure.

Also Read | Navi Mumbai airport and the making of a city

The airport, being developed by Navi Mumbai International Airport Ltd (NMIAL) in which the Adani Group holds a 74% stake, is scheduled to commence commercial operations on December 25.

Built at an initial cost of ₹19,650 crore, the first phase will have a capacity to handle 20 million passengers annually, with plans to scale up to 90 million passengers over time, easing capacity constraints at Mumbai’s existing airport and supporting long-term growth in the region’s air traffic.

Adani group had acquired the Mumbai airport from GVK Group.

Beside the two airports in Mumbai, Adani Group operates six other airports at Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram, Jaipur and Mangaluru.

This portfolio includes a mix of metro and regional airports, with the group also planning to bid aggressively for the next round of airport privatisations.

“As a staunch believer, bullish believer in this industry, we would be 100% very aggressive in the next round of bidding for all 11 (airports),” he said.

On investments in the Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO) and Flight Simulation Training Centre (FSTC) verticals, he said, “It’s a little early to say because we are still in the process of finalising a longer-term strategy and then putting a number to it.” However, he added, “at the end of the day, we are deep into it and we want to keep growing our expertise and our depth.” Mr. Adani said India’s aviation sector – encompassing airports and airlines – could sustain mid-teens growth for the next decade or more.

“The Indian aviation industry as a whole can continuously grow at 15-16%, mid-teens, year-on-year for the next 10-15 years,” he said, pointing to low per-capita air travel compared to China. “Even if we get to China, it means the whole sector has to grow by a multiple of cities.” Calling the growth runway long-term, he said, “So that’s a very long growth pathway that we have. And all the signs show that it’s seemingly done.”

Highlighting capacity constraints at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), Mr. Adani said, “Mumbai Airport was supply constrained from 2016 onwards and wasn’t able to service the additional demand that was coming through,” adding that “with the start of Navi Mumbai Airport, we will finally see some relaxation there.” Terming the commissioning of Navi Mumbai International Airport a landmark moment, he said, “In terms of Indian aviation, this is an extremely important moment. Firstly, we are seeing an asset of this size coming online and secondly, it’s not that it stops at this size. There is four times growth still left to do.”

The Adani Group, through its airport arm Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL), is India’s largest airport infrastructure operator. It controls a significant share of India’s air traffic, accounting for roughly 23% of passenger movements and about 33% of cargo traffic nationwide.

In parallel, AAHL is investing in capacity upgrades and phased expansions at existing facilities and scaling ancillary services such as non-aeronautical retail and city-side developments, reflecting its push to transform hard infrastructure into diversified revenue streams.

“We have separated the two businesses. One is the airport infrastructure and the other one is the aircraft services business. So that can include dual use, defence and civilian use,” Mr. Adani said.

In the previous round of privatisation in 2019, Adani Group won six airports – Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram, Jaipur and Mangaluru – and acquired Mumbai Airport from the GVK Group in 2021.

The Civil Aviation Ministry has identified 11 airports, including six smaller ones, for operations under the public-private partnership model, while the National Monetisation Pipeline envisages leasing 25 Airports Authority of India-operated airports between 2022 and 2025.

Published – December 19, 2025 01:28 pm IST

The Navi Mumbai International Airport took a big step toward becoming operational on Sunday with its first commercial flight validation test being carried out successfully. An A320 aircraft from Indigo Airlines successfully touched down at runway 08/26 and was welcomed with a traditional water salute by two crash fire tenders. 

The landing was witnessed by senior officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Airports Authority of India, Customs, Immigration, Central Industrial Security Force, City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO), India Meteorological Department, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security as well as Adani Airport Holdings Limited (AAHL) and other key stakeholders.

“This is a momentous day for Navi Mumbai International Airport. The successful completion of the validation flight is a major milestone, and we are now one step closer to operationalising the airport, prioritising safety at every step. We are grateful to the DGCA and all the agencies involved in making the validation flight trial successful. Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) will not only offer world-class aviation facilities, it will also enable the overall development of the region,” said Mr Arun Bansal, Chief Executive Officer, Adani Airport Holdings Limited.

The touchdown of a commercial aircraft validates and establishes the synchronised functioning of Instrument Approach Procedures at NMIA (airport code: NMI). The exercise includes technical assessment, landing and take-off manoeuvres, paving the way for the DGCA to validate the data collected from the flight and for NMIA to receive the aerodrome licence, which is essential for operating the airport. NMIA’s established flight procedures will also be published in the Electronic Aeronautical Information Publication.

“Prior to the landing of the validation flight, NMIA successfully conducted the flight calibration of the Instrument Landing System (ILS) and Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI), subsequently drafting instrument approach procedures to prepare itself for the arrival of the validation flight,” a release said. 

Before this flight validation test, the inaugural landing of an Indian Air Force C-295, a large multi-role tactical airlifter, had taken place on October 11, representing a significant milestone in the development of the greenfield international airport, which is scheduled to be operational early next year. 

The Navi Mumbai International Airport Private Limited is a special-purpose vehicle established for the development, construction, operation, and maintenance of the greenfield international airport project in Navi Mumbai on a Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis. NMIAL is part of Adani Airports Holdings Limited and is owned by Mumbai International Airport Limited (74% shareholding) and CIDCO (26% shareholding). 

The project will be developed in multiple phases and, once complete, the airport will have the capacity to manage over 90 million passengers per annum. In the initial phase, NMIAL is implementing a passenger capacity of 20 million passengers cargo handling capacity of 8 lakh tonnes a year.

(Disclaimer: New Delhi Television is a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani Group Company.)