Mumbai, Jun 17 (PTI) Adani Group-owned Navi Mumbai airport is expected to start international operations from the greenfield facility from July 15, a top official said on Wednesday.

Along with international passenger flights, the Navi Mumbai airport will also commence international freighter operations, he said.

The second airport in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region had commenced domestic flight services from December last year.

"On July 15, we are starting with freighters, and we expect the freighters to ramp up to almost 18 weekly flights. Good news is also that there is movement on the passenger side and hopefully on July 15 international passenger flights will also start," Navi Mumbai International Airport Ltd (NMIAL) Chief Executive Officer BVJK Sharma told reporters on the sidelines of BCBA Logistics Conclave here.

Sharma further noted that both "Air India Express and IndiGo are going to operate international flights from Navi Mumbai".

Member (Customs), a senior official within the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), reviewed the readiness of the airport (for international operations) on Tuesday, and relevant notifications have been promulgated, he said.

"The last one is being done today, which will then follow with Section 45 and the trials with both the codes for courier and the cargo," he said, adding that this will lead to probably a trade notice by the customs around July 5.

Asked how many international services the airport was looking to begin with, he said, "We need to see (how many international services). The filings have just started; we do not have the firm numbers yet. On March 29, we had certain filings, but all that got cancelled because of the situation.

"A fresh filing has happened yesterday (Tuesday) night, which was by Air India Express. So, Air India Express and IndiGo both are going to put international flights in Navi Mumbai." The Navi Mumbai International Airport, which started commercial flights in December last year, handles around 20,000 passengers per day with 150 departures and arrivals. The airport is expecting the daily passenger footfall to surge to 50,000 per day by the year-end, and 380 Air traffic movements (arrivals and departures) per day.

Sharma also said international airlines have started talking to NMIAL for starting their services from the new airport, adding that, "There is no firm name yet, but many have come. Many ambassadors from various countries and many consulate generals are coming and meeting." He said the airport is hopeful for short-haul (international) flights, to begin with. Flights with 4-6 hour duration fall in the short-haul category.

He said the design work for the next phase has just started. The airport operator had said earlier that it was planning a 30 million passenger terminal.

"Now we are planning a bigger terminal. We are redesigning it. The main architects will come on board, but we have begun the planning," he said.

On the demand for domestic cargo versus international cargo, Sharma said freighters operate on a hub-and-spoke model and domestic feed is very important in that system.

International freighters also connect with domestic operators. Just like every wide-body aircraft needs domestic flights to connect passengers, cargo will also work on a hub-and-spoke model, he said, emphasising that Navi Mumbai will be a "good hub".

Stating that domestic cargo -- especially belly cargo (the cargo space in a passenger aircraft) -- is doing well, he said almost 70 per cent of the airport's cargo volumes are expected to be from the belly.

Earlier, addressing the event, Sharma said the airport has begun work on the next phase of the terminal, which will be the largest terminal in the country with a 50-million capacity.

"We have had some discussions with the main architects and are trying to see whether we can integrate all the international business of passengers in one terminal going forward. So, in this 50 million capacity terminal, probably 25-30 million international passengers would be integrated by 2038, he stated.

On June 15, it was named among the Prix Versailles World's Most Beautiful Airports 2026 alongside five other international airports, including Guangzhou, China; Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Kandal Stueng, Cambodia; Pittsburgh and San Diego in the United States. PTI IAS TRB