The Navi Mumbai international airport, which is coming up near Panvel, has taken its design cue from the lotus flower. The new airport will have long fluid lines, sprawling concourses and a recurring lotus motif across the complex. The first look was revealed by GVK Group, in charge of designing Mumbai’s second international airport.
The site had a cluster of villages with ponds full of lotuses and that inspired the terminal design. The airport is designed by British architectural firm Zaha Hadid, the same firm that also designed the Beijing Daxing International Airport.
The greenfield airport, to be developed in four phases, will handle 90 million passengers annually once it is fully operational. In the first phase, it will handle 10 million passengers and have three interconnected multi-level terminals with the airport’s main terminal (T1) expected to be operational in the first phase. The T1 will have two floors, few level changes and minimum walking distances.
In 2018, the GVK group had commissioned Zaha Hadid Architects to design the main terminal and air traffic control tower. The following year, the group received approval for the master plan by the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO). The greenfield airport to be built over 1,160 hectares has already acquired 95 percent of the land with hill cutting and filling works currently ongoing.
The GVK Group who have been in the airport business for the past 15 years sold its stake to Adani Group in August 2020, exiting the sector. With its exit, the date of commencement of commercial operations of the airport remains undecided.
The Adani Group is likely to amend the concessionaire agreement, review and revisit the construction plans as the ongoing pandemic has resulted in a sharp fall in traffic.
