Why does Navi Mumbai’s new airport need an influencer?

Farah Khan’s walkthrough of the newly opened Navi Mumbai International Airport is not the kind of video usually associated with aviation infrastructure. She stops to talk about art installations, highlights restaurants and interviews the Adanis. That raises a larger question. Why does an airport need an influencer push at launch?

One possible answer is that airports are no longer positioning themselves only as transit points. Around the world, they are being designed and marketed as experiences that offer travellers a glimpse of the city without leaving the terminal. For many passengers, especially those on short trips or layovers, the airport may be their first and most immediate interaction with a place.

Singapore’s Changi Airport is often cited as the benchmark for this shift. It has deliberately blurred the line between airport and attraction through architecture, indoor gardens, art and the Jewel complex. Travellers choose routes that pass through Changi not just for convenience but to spend time there. The airport acts as a compressed introduction to Singapore’s culture, values and design sensibility.

Navi Mumbai International Airport appears to be borrowing from this playbook. Seen in this context, Farah Khan’s role makes sense. She is not explaining flight schedules or terminal logistics. She is exploring the space as a visitor would, signalling that the airport is meant to be noticed and experienced. It reflects an ambition to frame the airport as part of the city’s identity, not just its infrastructure, and to make the journey begin well before take off.