Mumbai’s new international airport will open for passengers on September 30, giving UAE and GCC travellers more choices in pricing and flight options.

The Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) will handle 90 million passengers annually once fully completed.

By 2032, Mumbai’s two airports – Navi Mumbai and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) – will handle between 140 million and 160 million passengers annually. These two airports will place the Indian financial capital along with global aviation hubs such as Dubai, New York, and London, which have twin airport models.

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Dubai houses Dubai International (DXB) and Al Maktoum International Airport; London is home to Heathrow and Gatwick, while New York houses JFK and Newark airports.

The twin Mumbai airports will boost connectivity and allow UAE and Indian carriers to increase flights between Mumbai and the UAE, as well as other countries.

These increased frequencies will provide additional opportunities to the Indian nationals and other tourists travelling between the UAE and Mumbai.

A welcome boon

Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StrategicAero Research, said the new Mumbai airport, Navi Mumbai International Airport, will be a welcome boon for airlines that operate between India and the UAE, particularly with a large number of Indian nationals working in and across the UAE.

“This will mean more flight options and ostensibly, more pricing choice as well – between a mix of full-service airlines like Emirates, Etihad Airways, and Air India, as well as greater competition between flydubai, Air Arabia, Akasa Air, Air India Express, and IndiGo,” said Ahmad.

In June, India’s Akasa Air announced a deal with Adani Airport Holdings Ltd. (AAHL) to commence commercial flight operations from the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA).

Akasa Air will operate 100-plus weekly domestic departures initially, scaling up to 300-plus domestic and over 50 international departures weekly in the winter schedule. The airline is also set to ramp up to 10 parking bases by the end of the 2027 fiscal year, with a focused international expansion into key Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian markets.

The latest data show that the number of Indians living in the UAE and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries has crossed nine million. In the UAE alone, there are 3.7 million Indian nationals.

India remained Dubai International airport’s (DX) largest country market in the first half of 2025 with 5.9 million passengers.

Long-term issue

However, Saj Ahmad pointed out that the bigger long-term issue for NMIA is its eastern location to Mumbai.

“Transport links are nowhere near as modern or efficient enough to move people to and from Navi Mumbai International Airport to downtown Mumbai, whereas the existing airport is a lot closer – it may well be that some passengers elect to avoid Navi Mumbai International Airport in order to save time and money commuting centrally. Given the length of time it takes to get infrastructure projects off the ground, NMIA has it all to do in terms of pulling in traffic – there’s no question it will be a good second airport – but is it enough to be the best?,” he said.

“This is the same quagmire that Sydney faces with the new West Sydney International airport, which is almost 60km away from downtown Sydney – whereas Sydney Kingsford Smith International is just minutes away and has far better infrastructure too,” said Saj Ahmad.