India is building one of the most ambitious airport infrastructures on the continent. The Noida International Airport, built in Jewar, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, has the potential to become one of the largest hubs in Asia with a planned maximum capacity of between 60 and 120 million passengers per year. We tell you all the details of this mammoth project.
A project with decades of history behind it. The idea of building a large airport in this area has been brewing for years. The original proposal dates back to 2001, when the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Rajnath Singh, proposed an aeronautical hub geared towards Taj Mahal tourism. After years of political changes, disputes over the location and administrative stoppages, the project was relaunched in 2014. The central government gave its final approval in 2015, and in November 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the first phase.
Who builds it and how. The development is carried out by Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL) under a public-private partnership model. In 2019, Flughafen Zürich AG, the operating company of Zurich Airport, won the tender to build and manage it for 40 years. Civil construction was awarded in 2022 to Tata Projects Limited, with a stated target of net zero emissions.
What will be there when it opens. The first phase includes a terminal (T1) with capacity for 12 million passengers per year and a 3,900-meter runway, already operational. The basic infrastructure is practically ready: control tower, baggage management systems, ten boarding bridges and security services. According to account The Sun, the interior design opts for an open-plan aesthetic with an undulating roof that imitates the flow of a river, large air-conditioned waiting areas, self-check-in kiosks, prayer rooms and children’s areas. There will also be a central area open to the outside with vegetation and shade.
A phased deployment until 2050. The airport will grow in four phases. To the first terminal and initial runway, three more terminals and up to six runways in total will be added progressively, reaching a combined capacity of between 60 and 120 million passengers per year by 2050, according to the data collected by The Times India. That would put him in the same league as the Beijing Daxing International Airport either the one in dubai.
Its great advantage: the Taj Mahal within reach. Agra, home to the Taj Mahal and which receives up to eight million visitors a year, is now almost four hours’ drive from New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. With the new airport, that trip would be reduced to just over two hours. The project is also designed as an alternative to the overcrowded Indira Gandhi, the main hub of the Delhi metropolitan area.
Beyond the passengers. The airport also aspires to become an important cargo node for northern India, relying on its proximity to the Delhi-Mumbai Express Corridor and Dedicated Freight Corridors, as point the Time Out medium.
The airlines that have already committed. IndiGo and Akasa Air have confirmed operations at the airport, mainly on domestic routes. Among the destinations mentioned are Bombay, Hyderabad and Calcutta. International routes, including possible connections to Zurich or Dubai, are still pending confirmation.
Delays, the big problem. The opening was initially planned for 2022, then for September 2024, and later there was talk of October 30 of that year. The works continue and given the history of delays, there is no choice but to wait for a definitive opening date, which should be shortly.
Images | Noida International Airport
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