NAVI MUMBAI, Dec. 26 -- At 8 am on Christmas Day, an IndiGo flight from Bengaluru touched down at the newly opened Navi Mumbai International Airport to a water cannon salute, formally launching passenger operations after nearly 30 years of bureaucratic delays, environmental challenges and protests by project-affected persons. Applause broke out inside the aircraft as it rolled to a halt, while residents gathered along nearby highways and access roads to watch and record a milestone that had been decades in the making. Built as a greenfield project through a public-private partnership between the Adani Group and the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (Cidco), the airport is designed to handle up to 90 million passengers annually by 2032, promising to transform connectivity for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani was present inside the terminal to welcome the first batch of arriving passengers, who were issued commemorative photo certificates and presented with gifts. The airport completed its inaugural arrival-departure cycle within 40 minutes of the first landing, when an IndiGo flight departed for Hyderabad at 8.40 am. On its first day, NMIA handled 30 domestic flights-15 arrivals and 15 departures-between 8 am and 8 pm, with IndiGo, Air India Express, Akasa Air and Star Air operating services. More than 4,000 passengers travelled through the airport on Thursday, the operator said in a statement. From February, operations are planned to progressively scale up to round-the-clock services. Cidco vice-chairman and managing director Vijay Singhal told HT that the airport is being built as the anchor of a region-wide mobility and economic system. "This is not a standalone airport that has been added to Mumbai's map," he said. "NMIA has been planned as a system-integrated with road, rail, metro, high-speed rail and logistics networks-so that it scales efficiently as demand grows." Together with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, the two facilities are expected to handle 150 million passengers annually by 2037. "Mumbai cannot remain a single-airport city," Singhal said. "NMIA ensures growth is planned, not improvised." Former Thane MP and BJP leader Sanjeev Naik, who took the inaugural IndiGo flight to Hyderabad with his wife Kalpana, said December 25, 2025, would be written "in golden letters" in the history of Navi Mumbai and Maharashtra. "To be a passenger on this inaugural flight is a matter of pride," he said. Also on board the first departure was former Panvel corporator Pushpalata Madhvi. "Our village used to be right where this airport is now, and it brings us joy to see it built on our land," she said. She also reiterated the long-standing demand that the airport be named after the late farmer leader DB Patil, who led protests against land acquisition by Cidco for the development of Navi Mumbai in the 1970s. Harishchandra Madhvi, a PAP travelling on the same flight, said flying on the opening day was a deliberate decision. "When it was announced, we decided we would take the first flight," he said. Even as celebrations unfolded inside the terminal, several PAPs gathered outside the airport, many dressed in traditional Agri-Koli attire, to press their demand for renaming the airport after DB Patil. Santosh Gharat, sarpanch of Jasai village, the native village of the late farmer leader, said the protest was rooted in decades of broken assurances to local communities. "For 40 years, our emotions have been played with. We gave our land and our livelihoods. We booked tickets only to register our protest," he said....