Air India Group will begin transferring select domestic and international operations to Navi Mumbai International Airport in December 2026, as part of a phased realignment of flight services to accommodate the planned redevelopment of Terminal 1 at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.
Air India Express is set to launch operations from Navi Mumbai International Airport in December with four domestic departures daily.
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The airline plans to introduce flights to Kuwait from January 2027, pending the necessary clearances, while shifting its existing Oman services to the new airport.
The airline group will subsequently shift select Air India Express services to Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam, Doha, Muscat and Sharjah to the new airport.
The transition is expected to be completed by the International Air Transport Association's Northern Summer 2027 season.
The move is part of a wider airport transition programme involving domestic and international airlines to enable the redevelopment of Terminal 1 at CSMIA.
The phased relocation is also expected to support the development of Mumbai's dual-airport system while allowing the Air India Group to retain the historicity of its existing operating slots at the existing airport.
Mumbai's Dual-Airport Network
Adani Airport Holdings Limited (AAHL), which operates both Mumbai and Navi Mumbai airports, welcomed the airline group's plans to begin operations from NMIA.
The company said the new airport is being developed with advanced technology, multimodal connectivity and scalable infrastructure to accommodate the region's future aviation requirements and provide passengers with a seamless travel experience.
The transition is expected to strengthen connectivity across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region by distributing air traffic between the two airports and offering passengers additional travel options.
Mumbai's aviation infrastructure has faced growing demand as passenger traffic and airline operations have expanded.
The development of NMIA is intended to complement the existing airport and provide additional capacity to serve the region's growing aviation market.
The phased transfer of flights will also help facilitate the planned redevelopment of CSMIA Terminal 1 without requiring the Air India Group to discontinue its services in the Mumbai market.
Which Flights Will Move?
The transition will begin with four daily domestic Air India Express flights from NMIA in December 2026.
The airline plans to introduce services to Kuwait in January 2027, subject to the necessary approvals, while existing services to Oman are also scheduled to operate from the new airport.
In subsequent phases, Air India Express will progressively relocate services connecting Mumbai with key destinations across West Asia, including Saudi Arabian cities Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam, as well as Doha, Muscat and Sharjah.
The airline group said the process would be completed by the Northern Summer 2027 season, although the announcement did not specify the individual flight schedules or dates for each route's transition.
Passengers travelling to or from Mumbai will therefore need to check their tickets and flight details carefully as services move between the two airports.
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Air India Group's Expansion
The Air India Group, comprising full-service carrier Air India and low-cost airline Air India Express, operates more than 300 aircraft and serves 60 domestic and 51 international destinations across five continents.
The group returned to Tata Sons in 2022 after 70 years under government ownership and is undergoing a five-year transformation programme, Vihaan.AI.
As part of its expansion and modernisation strategy, Air India has placed orders for 600 new aircraft and is progressively upgrading its existing fleet.
Air India Express operates more than 585 daily flights, connecting 48 domestic and 17 international destinations across South, Southeast and West Asia.
AAHL operates eight airports, including Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Navi Mumbai International Airport.
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