Mumbai: Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), where commercial operations began on 25 December, is facing some teething issues—complaints from travellers about loss of mobile network on landing and delays in getting cabs—that have fuelled the perception that the airport’s inauguration may have been rushed.
Located in Ulwe, in Maharashtra’s Raigad district, NMIA caters to travellers from Navi Mumbai and neighbouring regions, including Thane, Raigad, Pune and parts of the Konkan. The airport was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 8 October last year, and Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) is now the first in the country to have two functional airports.
Currently, four airlines operate daily from NMIA, connecting it to 13 domestic destinations. International operations are expected to begin in March.
Passengers at the airport ThePrint spoke to reported that poor mobile connectivity has made communication difficult and disrupted app-based transport bookings, leading to travel discomfort.
Fazal Bashir, a 24-year-old entrepreneur on a business trip to Mumbai, said he took an IndiGo flight from Cochin and was confused after landing at NMIA as he could not contact anyone. He also experienced a long wait for his baggage.
“My flight landed late and I could not understand if my phone was not working or if my data pack had expired. I had to spend a lot of time waiting for my bags. I now know that I need to be connected to the wifi, but someone who is landing at the airport for the first time does not know that,” he said.
Uber booth handlers at the airport mentioned the same trouble.
“Usually Mondays are busy here, with business and work travellers flying in. There was a higher inflow of people on 3 January, as they were returning from vacations. We help travellers connect with the airport wifi, as some passengers expressed frustration over not being able to book a cab. We receive a higher number of such complaints here because people use Uber regularly and while they know how to book a cab, they are unable to do so by themselves,” one such handler told ThePrint.
People have also shared their negative experiences at NMIA on X.
“It’s a complete disaster here. Zero network, no proper arrangements for taxis. Pax struggling to get cabs,” wrote one user.
“NMIA has real issues—especially mobile connectivity—but none of them are deal-breakers. This feels like an airport that opened a few months too early, not a dysfunctional one. Fix the network mess, and most of the current complaints disappear overnight,” said another.
Also Read: Navi Mumbai International Airport begins commercial ops tomorrow, 30 flights planned on Day 1
‘Poor cellular network, cab hassles’
Anaswara Mohan, a 24-year-old student from Cochin in her fourth year at ISDI School of Design and Innovation in Mumbai, praised the airport’s ease of navigation but expressed concern over the patchy cellular connectivity.
“It is pretty easy to navigate inside the airport. Staff is there to guide you and help you connect with the airport wifi. But there is no cellular connectivity when you land, so you have no idea why you are not able to connect with others,” she told ThePrint.
“My Akasa Air flight from Cochin was supposed to land at T1 domestic airport but got moved here (Navi Mumbai airport). I live in BKC (Bandra-Kurla Complex), so the travel back is going to take a long time.”
Long wait time for cabs has emerged as another source of frustration.
Durga Narayanan, a speech doctor at Tata Memorial Centre in Mumbai, said repeated cab cancellations and shifting wait times have made the journey home from the airport cumbersome. Her colleague Raima John said airport staff advised them to connect to the free airport wifi.
Durga and Raima had travelled on an Akasa flight from Cochin.
“My first cab got booked within seconds. It showed 7 minutes’ wait time. He cancelled and another cab was immediately booked. That showed 2 minutes, and then 7 minutes. It is a task to understand how long it will take for the cab to get here. It has already been 20 minutes,” Durga told ThePrint.
An e-sports commentator from Hyderabad, currently living in Mumbai, described the cab services as “a big scam”, alleging that drivers were refusing rides while waiting for higher-paying bookings.
“It is all a big scam. There are several cab drivers parked and waiting here but none of them are accepting the ride because they are waiting for an XL ride with higher rates. This keeps the rest of us, light travellers, stranded and at their mercy,” he told ThePrint.
Another IndiGo passenger said: “I was constantly switching the airplane mode on and off on my phone to check whether something was wrong with the device, after my flight from Hyderabad landed here and I lost connectivity.”
Telcos’ charge
NMIA was developed as a public-private partnership between Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), a subsidiary of Adani Airport Holdings, and the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO).
Less than a week after the airport began operations, telecom operators Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, under the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), accused the airport authorities of denying them Right of Way (RoW) permissions to deploy their own 4G/5G infrastructure and independent in-building solutions (IBS) inside the airport. They have also sought intervention from the Department of Telecommunications to resolve the issue, according to media reports.
Right of Way refers to the legal permission given to telecom providers to use public or private land or property, such as roads, poles and buildings, to install, operate and maintain network infrastructure, including cables, towers and small cells, following approvals and fee payments.
COAI accused Navi Mumbai International Airport Limited (NMIAL), in which the Adani Group holds a 76% stake, of levying “exorbitant charges” for use of its in-building telecom network, alleging that operators were being asked to pay about Rs 92 lakh per month per operator. The association said these charges were disproportionate to the capital expenditure required for building in-house network solutions.
Rejecting the allegations, NMIAL said in a statement that “we will not give in to any cartelisation”.
“Right of Way has never been denied by NMIAL to any Telecom Service Provider (TSP). NMIAL has regularly communicated and discussed with TSPs and already offered the IBS services at charges in line with the existing industry standards, to which the TSPs are yet to revert,” the statement read.
“Owing to the delay by other TSPs, NMIA is providing free, high speed wifi services re-iterating its commitment to provide high speed connectivity to all the passengers.”
An employee of Adani Airport Holdings told ThePrint that BSNL is already in discussions with NMIAL and is in advanced phase of testing for the use of IBS at the airport. “We are hopeful that it will begin operations soon.”
On the current wifi system, he said: “The wifi is hassle free. Passengers don’t need a cellular network to receive the OTP.”
“Transport is also not a hassle,” he added, noting that “shuttle services connect NMIA to Targhar railway station and that Chalo buses also operate services between NMIA and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.”
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)