NEW DELHI: India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated a new international airport in the financial capital Mumbai, marking a step forward in expansion of the country’s fast-growing aviation network.
Built by business conglomerate Adani Group at an estimated cost of $2.2 billion, the first phase of Navi Mumbai International Airport is expected to commence operations in December as a key passenger and cargo hub in Asia. It will also help ease congestion at the city’s existing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, one of the country’s busiest. Mumbai is the only metropolitan city in India to have a second international airport.
“It’s a reflection of a nation that is growing,” Modi said in a speech.
The Navi Mumbai airport will have a capacity of up to 20 million passengers annually and up to 90 million over the next few years when all the four planned terminals are operational, the Adani Group said in a statement.
It will be the first airport in India planned to be connected by water taxis in addition to high speed rail, underground metro trains, roads and highway networks.
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