Ganesh Naik, the minister of forests for Maharashtra, said on Monday that the planned Navi Mumbai International Airport will bear the name of the late DB Patil, who led the group of people impacted by the project.
In Vashi, Naik spoke in a janta darbar, or the public hearing. “During the event, Atul Patil, son of DB Patil, met Naik to request the naming of the Navi Mumbai International Airport after his father. Responding to the request, Naik assured that once commercial operations commence, the airport will be officially named after DB Patil,” the statement pointed out.
Naik said the demands of project-affected persons requesting freehold status for LIG and MIG lands along with uniform land regularisation rates will be raised with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The greenfield Navi Mumbai International Airport began construction in February 2018 and it was renamed Loknete Swargiya DB Patil International Airport by the Maha Vikas Aghadi governance in 2022.
The airport will launch in stages, beginning with Terminal 1 and a single runway. Mumbai’s aviation landscape is set for a major shift with the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) opening on April 17, 2025, with domestic operations starting in May. International flights are expected to start in July 2025. A senior Adani Airports Holding Ltd. executive last month said that “the airport is expected to be inaugurated on April 17, 2025. The second week of May is when the procedures are going to start.”
“The airport conducted a commercial flight test last December with an IndiGo A320 passenger aircraft landing successfully at runway 08/26,” officials had said.