Airlines may operate more international flights to the fledgling Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) in the future, with the tariff regulator allowing a complete waiver of landing charges for all new flights from there, even if they are already flying on the same route from the Mumbai airport.
Flights up to 5,000 km will be waived 100% landing fee in the first year and 50% discount in the second year, while flights over 5,000 km will also be given a 25% discount in the third year, the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA) said in a new order. The incentive is available to both Indian and foreign airlines.
Currently, all new international flights departing from both NMIA and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai (CSMIA) are subject to denial. The new order means that an airline already operating flights of 5,000 km can switch to NMIA and still benefit from the benefit. The move is aimed at attracting new international flights to the Adani Group-owned airport, which began operations last year.
Simply put, an airline already flying to Dubai from CSMIA can now launch Navi Mumbai-Dubai flights and still be eligible for the benefits. Under the earlier rule, he would not have qualified.
Adani Airports did not respond to Mint’s questions.
Trial
AERA said the immediate challenge was to get airlines to use the airport’s capacity. The revised incentive reduces one component of the cost of launching international flights and gives carriers greater flexibility, while also adding Navi Mumbai flights even to routes they already operate from Mumbai. In its order dated September 8, AERA said that “airlines are reluctant to commence international operations from NMI, resulting in underutilization of the said infrastructure.” The observation was based on a letter dated August 4 from Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIAL) officials. Airlines have cited the “number of air fares” as one of the reasons for holding back international operations, despite concessions already offered, AERA said.
The normal landing fee for an international flight in Navi Mumbai is: ₹1850 per ton of aircraft weight in the first year. For an aircraft weighing 80 tons this works out ₹1.48 lakh per landing. As part of the benefit, the airline pays nothing for the first year.
In a separate order, certain benefits have also been extended to the GMR-run Bhogapuram airport for airlines starting international operations or introducing new routes after March 2026. Benefits include lower landing and parking fees. The idea is to attract more international traffic to the airport.
Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra and Bhogapuram in Andhra Pradesh are two of the three major airports opened last year. The third, in Jewar in Uttar Pradesh, is yet to begin international operations.
NMIAL also pointed to higher fuel and insurance costs, airspace closures, geopolitical conflicts and weak demand as making carriers more cautious about launching flights from the new airport.
The incentive is not new
“AERA does not give Navi Mumbai a whole new type of incentive. It changes the eligibility rules so that an international destination does not have to be new for the entire Mumbai region, it only needs to be new for Navi Mumbai,” said Amit Mittal, aviation expert and director at consultancy firm Aerointellect Aviation. “For Navi Mumbai, this will mean attracting domestic and international carriers. And passengers will be able to see lower ticket prices as the airlines will subsequently pass on these benefits,” he said.
This incentive could be especially important for NMIA as Adani’s airport venture seeks to transform the airport into a major transport hub. In October 2024, Jeet Adani, director of Adani Airport Holdings, said the airport “will play a key role in the region’s growth, serving as a critical hub for travelers around the world.”
Previously, AERA introduced relaxations for airport operators, and on a case-by-case basis.
At Mumbai Airport, for example, the fare plan approved in 2025 offered zero landing fees in the first year for a new international destination, but only if that destination had not been served from Mumbai in the previous two IATA seasons.
At the Manohar International Airport in Mopa in Goa, the incentive worked differently. International landing fees decrease as an airline increases its annual number of arrivals.
“For Adani Airports, attracting these flights will help improve international traffic and utilization of the new airport and will also bring NMIA closer to its intended role as the second major aviation hub in the Mumbai region,” Mittal said.