The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) has finalised the initial aeronautical tariff structure for the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) as part of an interim tariff structure for the new airport. Passengers flying from the airport will have to pay new user development fees, with domestic departing travelers charged Rs 620 and international passengers Rs 1,225, according to Financial Express.
The newly approved rate card introduces specific levies for passengers flying out of the greenfield terminal, establishing a new pricing framework for the region's aviation sector. According to a PTI report, the mandate also introduces user development fees (UDF) for incoming passengers, fixing the levy at Rs 270 for domestic arrivals and Rs 525 for international travellers.
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The regulator told PTI that it has capped the 2026-27 domestic departure fee at a “reasonable” Rs 620 per passenger, lower than the Rs 742 originally proposed by the airport operator after regulatory intervention. Similarly, the user development fee (UDF) for international departures has been fixed at Rs 1,225 per passenger, compared to the Rs 1,467 initially sought by the operator.
Why the steep prices?
The regulator explained that brand-new “greenfield” airports are naturally more expensive in their early years because operators have to claw back massive construction costs while starting out with much lower passenger numbers than older, established hubs.
To ease the burden on travellers, AERA has deferred 11.32 per cent of the required revenue collection to the 2030-2035 tariff cycle. The regulator also significantly reduced the operator's financial expectations, capping the airport's first-term revenue requirement at R s14,087 crore, nearly half of the original demand of Rs 28,290 crore, reported Financial Express.
As per the data cited by PTI, it points towards a rapid operational scaling phase for the greenfield hub in the latter half of the year. The Adani Group-managed facility is forecast to process a massive influx of traffic, with daily throughput expected to exceed 50,000 passengers alongside a bustling schedule of nearly 380 flight movements per day by late 2026.
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