Navi Mumbai, Dec. 23 -- Commercial operations at the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) will commence on December 25 with an extended, month-long campaign featuring curated welcome programmes, gifts and technology-led passenger services, said Jeet Adani, director at Adani Airports Holdings Limited, which operates and manages the NMIA. "The opening has been planned as more than a routine operational start. Every passenger is going to feel special," Adani said while speaking to reporters last week. He refused to divulge any information about the main attraction of the launch, saying, "That is a surprise. I can't disclose that yet." CIDCO vice-chairman and managing director Vijay Singhal said the December 25 launch will also mark the start of calibrated domestic flight operations, with 33 aircraft movements on the first day. "Flights on day one will be operated by IndiGo, Akasa Air, Air India Express and Star Air," he said. Adani said passengers accessing the airport on the launch day will encounter a series of curated elements across the terminal, including airport-themed giveaways created exclusively for the launch, multiple selfie points and cultural showcases reflecting the airport's identity and Maharashtra's local heritage. "We've brought local artists onto this stage so that millions of people can see them," Adani said, pointing to installations themed around the Dadar flower market, Sassoon Dock, and forts in Maharashtra. While the airport has been designed as a technology-forward facility, all mission-critical systems will retain human oversight, Adani said. The Air Traffic Control and the Airport Operations Control Centre will be fully manned, and avoid untested automation deliberately, while the baggage handling system will be fully automated, with no manual intervention between check-in and aircraft loading. Flight operations will commence in a calibrated and phased manner, beginning with domestic passenger flights. Initially, the airport will handle around 30 domestic flights a day as systems and teams stabilise. International flights will commence once domestic operations settle, by February or March, Adani said. Singhal too said the launch has been deliberately phased and calibrated. "We are not front-loading volumes. The focus is on operational stability, predictability and then scaling up in a structured manner," he said. Operations in phase I will be anchored by terminal 1, which has a designed capacity of 20 million passengers annually, Singhal said. "The south runway, cargo terminal, fuel farm and multi-level car parking will all be operational from day one, enabling NMIA to function as a complete airport ecosystem at launch," he noted....