Air India Express has officially opened bookings for its inaugural international flight from Navi Mumbai Airport to Abu Dhabi on July 15, marking a significant milestone for the greenfield airport's international operations. As reported by PTI, this makes Air India Express the first air carrier to launch international operations from the greenfield airport, with other domestic and foreign airlines expected to follow suit. The Adani Group-owned Navi Mumbai Airport, in which the Maharashtra government's urban planning and infrastructure development agency Cidco holds a 26 per cent stake, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October last year and commenced domestic commercial operations on December 25, 2025.
Under the initial schedule, flights will depart Abu Dhabi at 5:45 am and arrive in Navi Mumbai at 10:20 am (local time), according to Zee News. The return flight will leave Navi Mumbai at 2:55 am and reach Abu Dhabi at 4:35 am (local time). The new service will initially operate twice a week on Wednesdays and Fridays, before being expanded to three weekly flights with the addition of a Sunday service from July 29, as reported by Zee News. Bookings for the route are now open through the airline's website, mobile application and other booking channels, with the airline emphasizing that these flights will provide travellers across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region with a second gateway to the UAE, enhancing accessibility, convenience, and travel choice.
With the addition of this Abu Dhabi route, Air India Express will operate 30 weekly flights from Navi Mumbai, connecting the airport directly to Abu Dhabi, Bengaluru, and Delhi. The airline emphasized that these flights will provide travellers across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region with a second gateway to the UAE, enhancing accessibility, convenience, and travel choice. The new route represents a significant expansion of the airline's presence in Maharashtra, where it currently operates over 95 weekly flights from Mumbai, more than 100 weekly flights from Pune and 14 weekly flights from Nagpur. Air India Express operates one of the largest networks between India and West Asia, linking several Indian cities with destinations across Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The Navi Mumbai International Airport currently handles around 20,000 passengers per day with 150 departures and arrivals, according to PTI. The airport is expecting daily passenger footfall to surge to 50,000 per day by the year-end, with 380 air traffic movements (arrivals and departures) per day. This represents a significant expansion from the current operational capacity as the airport prepares for increased international and domestic traffic, with the airport operator positioning itself as a key gateway for both domestic and international travel. The announcement comes as airlines steadily ramp up operations from Navi Mumbai International Airport, which is expected to ease congestion at Mumbai's existing airport and emerge as a major aviation hub in western India.
Air India Express operates a fleet of 25 Boeing 737-800 aircraft with a capacity of 182 passengers each, as reported by Goibibo. The airline, which started operations with its first inaugural flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Abu Dhabi on April 29, 2005, currently serves 31 destinations including 17 domestic and 14 international locations. The airline's network spans across India and Southeast Asia, with international destinations including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Air India Express currently operates over 500 daily flights, connecting 43 domestic and 16 international destinations across South, Southeast and West Asia with a fleet of over 100 aircraft comprising Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s.
