India, Dec. 24 -- Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) will become the first region in India to have two functional airports once the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) opens on Thursday. Though the airport will initially be accessible only via road, it has been planned as a fully networked, multi-directional transport hub designed to absorb passenger and cargo traffic from across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and key hinterland corridors, said Vijay Singhal, vice chairman and managing director of the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), which holds 26% stake in the airport.

"This is not an airport that depends on one corridor working well," Singhal said. "From the outset, we mapped directional traffic flows sepa...