India, Dec. 25 -- The Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) in Maharashtra began flight operations successfully on Thursday morning, thus marking a major milesestone in its operational rollout.

The first scheduled departure at the airport was an early morning flight to Hyderabad, which departed at 8:40 am, according to a statement.

The airport will serve as a critical new aviation hub for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), with commercial operations officially beginning after years of planning, development, and infrastructure work, the statement said.

The airport spans around 2,866 acres, thus being one of thelargest airport developments in the country. It has been designed to accommodate up to 90 million passengers annually.

On...