Big day for Navi Mumbai airport as IndiGo jet to land today to test systems | Thane News

The Navi Mumbai airport is set for its first-ever commercial aircraft landing with an IndiGo flight on Sunday. Expected to be operational by March-end 2025, this milestone follows the recent flight calibration of PAPI equipment.

MUMBAI: The Navi Mumbai airport project is set to cross a significant milestone Sunday with the stage set for the first-ever commercial aircraft landing.
IndiGo is expected to operate the inaugural flight, touching down on the new runway 08/26 around noon, said the Navi Mumbai International Airport Ltd on Saturday.
Commercial flights, carrying passengers and cargo, will begin after the airport is commissioned, expectedly around March-end.
In Oct, the Indian Air Force operated the first flights to Navi Mumbai airport with an Airbus C-295 aircraft touching down.
But handling of large passenger jets is needed before commissioning a civilian greenfield airport. “Unlike the IAF aircraft, an airline aircraft like the IndiGo A320 will carry out an approach and landing using the Instrument Landing Systems, the PAPI (Precision Approach Path Indicator); the runway markings will be present, none of which is needed for an IAF aircraft which can also land on an unpaved surface,” said a senior pilot.
Two weeks ago, the Navi Mumbai International Airport, in collaboration with Airports Authority of India (AAI), successfully completed flight calibration of the PAPI equipment of its south runway 08/26. PAPI, an essential visual navigation aid, is a row of light boxes installed adjacent to the runway.
It assists pilots in maintaining the correct glide slope angle of descent during approach and landing.
The air navigation service for the inaugural flight will be provided by the air traffic controllers (sitting at the Mumbai air traffic control) till it descends to 3,900 feet.

City and Navi Mumbai ATCs to coordinate 1st flight’s navigation

Thereafter, the flight will be handled by the tower controller (the controller who gives permissions for landing, takeoff, taxi, etc) based at the Navi Mumbai airport air traffic control tower.
When the aircraft takes off, it will be handled by the Navi Mumbai tower controller up to 2,000 feet and thereafter it will be handled by Mumbai air traffic control.
This arrangement is possible because Navi Mumbai and Mumbai airport runways are only 15km apart. Once Navi Mumbai airport gets enough traffic, say by 2026, it will have its independent air traffic control, said sources.
On the ground, for connectivity to the city and Mumbai airport, govt has planned a ‘Gati Shakti model with multi-modal connectivity’—road, rail and Metro— as former civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia announced when he visited the airport site early this year; he announced it would begin commercial operation by March-end 2025.