GVK Looking To Increase Navi Mumbai Airport’s Capacity!

Authorities at the GVK-led Navi Mumbai International Airport are looking to raise its passenger handling capacity.

They plan to increase the initial 10 million passengers per year capacity to 20 Million passengers and the overall 60 Million passenger handling capacity to 90 Million passengers. According to a spokesperson at GVK, the company is planning to increase the capacity based on the projected growth in air passenger movement.

If GVK wants to go ahead with this plan, they will have to take permission from the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO), the nodal body that has approved and awarded the project.

The decision to expand may however, push the date of starting operations at the airport beyond the government mandated 2020-21. It may take 3 to 4 years to build the airport with the new capacity requirements.

The initial investment will also increase, however, no one has confirmed this as of now. The total project cost is currently estimated at about Rs 16,000 Crores.

If this plan goes through, Navi Mumbai Airport will ultimately have three terminals, with the provision for a fourth. It will be able to handle 120 parked, landing and taxiing airplanes.

The much-delayed Navi Mumbai airport is seen as a critical alternative to the existing airport in India’s financial capital. Mumbai’s airport is India’s second busiest and also its most congested. It handled 48.5 million passengers in 2017-18 and holds the record for being the world’s busiest single-runway airport.