Planned with a long-term
investment of over ₹2,500 crore, the proposed 300,000 sq. ft. facility is being
developed in partnership with Adani Airport Holdings Ltd. (AAHL) as a regional
consolidation and redistribution hub serving India’s primary international
trade corridor. Once operational, the hub is expected to generate more than
6,000 direct and indirect jobs across logistics, warehousing, transport and
allied services. Senior leaders from the
Government of Maharashtra, FedEx and AAHL attended the ground-breaking
ceremony, underscoring the project’s strategic importance for the state’s
export ecosystem. Jeet Adani, Director, AAHL, highlighted NMIA’s proximity to
Jawaharlal Nehru Port, major industrial belts and multimodal transport links as
a critical advantage in building an integrated cargo and logistics platform for
the region.
The new hub will plug directly
into FedEx’s global air network, supporting trade flows between India and
Southeast Asia, West Asia, Europe and the United States. Equipped with advanced
automated sortation, dimensional scanning, high-speed screening systems and
dedicated aircraft parking bays, the facility is designed to handle
simultaneous inbound and outbound operations and to improve routing flexibility
and transit-time reliability for high-value and time-sensitive cargo such as
electronics, engineering goods, pharmaceuticals and perishables.
FedEx expects the enhanced
connectivity and predictability to help exporters and importers, particularly
micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), by reducing logistics costs and
improving shipment turnaround times. NMIA’s cargo infrastructure itself is
planned to open with a handling capacity of about 0.5 million metric tonnes
annually, scaling up in phases to around 3.25 million metric tonnes as the
airport reaches its final development stage, reinforcing the Mumbai Metropolitan
Region’s role as one of India’s most advanced air freight gateways.