By the end of 2024 Noida International Airport, a brand-new airport serving Indian capital New Delhi, is scheduled to be ready for action
Noida’s Kiran Jain, Chief Operating Officer, and Surabhi Rana, Head of Air Service Development, were at Routes Asia highlighting the attraction of the greenfield airport and the region it serves.
In many respects that is a relatively obvious sell as Noida sits in one of the biggest catchments in the world, with 25 million people within a 60-minute drive-time of the airport, and 60-90 million in a 150-minute drive-time.
Noida will serve New Delhi alongside the city’s existing hub, Indira Gandhi International Airport, which is located to the south-west of the city centre. Noida is located to the south-east.
“There is a huge need to have a dual-airport system [in Delhi],” said Jain. Indira Gandhi, although being expanded itself with a fourth runway and upgraded terminals, cannot handle the growth of India’s booming air transport market, which has been rampant in the New Delhi region alone.
“Noida will have no slot constraints, it will be open 24/7 and will have access to the same population without any restrictions,” Jain noted.
Upon opening, Noida will have a single terminal and runway offering a modern airport designed with digital services and technology to the fore, and a capacity of 12 million passengers. It will feature 10 contact airbridges and 15 apron parking positions.
“From day one we are expecting some international service at Noida, but domestic will be the larger part of the pie at first,” said Jain. “But there is an element of first-mover advantage.”
To date, IndiGo has committed to becoming a launch airline customer at Noida, while Akasa Air has also become an airline partner. Both low-cost carriers will create bases at Noida. “It has been absolutely critical to see them commit to Noida from a market confidence point of view,” said Jain.
The airport is in talks with all Indian carriers about established routes and bases at Noida, including those in the Air India Group, she noted. Noida is expected to cater mainly for point-to-point services in its start-up phase.
The airport is being developed by Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (YIAPL), a 100% subsidiary of Zurich Airport International, in close partnership with Government of Uttar Pradesh and Government of India. Construction began in November 2021.
The airport is designed to expand in phases as traffic grows, with the ultimate plan at this stage being for a facility capable of handling 70 million passengers when fully developed. The government is funding major land transport links for Noida to connect the airport to the region’s road and rail networks. There is also a plan for a rapid rail transit line from the airport to downtown Delhi.
Cargo is a major part of Noida’s strategy. The airport will have an integrated cargo terminal in operation when it opens, and Noida has selected Air India SATS (AISATS), a leading organisation in the cargo and logistics sector, to develop a multimodal cargo hub.
“We are talking to potential cargo operators to become an anchor cargo carrier at Noida,” noted Jain.
