Noida International Airport: Here's all you need to know about India’s biggest upcoming airport

The foundation stone for the upcoming Noida International Airport has been finally been laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jewar, Uttar Pradesh along with the Chief Minister of UP Yogi Adityanath. The Noida airport will be the Delhi-NCR's second international airport and is expected to be ready by September 2024. As per YIAPL, one runway will be operational in the first phase with a capacity to handle 12 million passengers annually.

Here’s all you need to know about the Noida International Airport

Who is making the airport?

The airport is being developed in public-private partnership (PPP) mode by the UP government with Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (YIAPL), a 100 per cent subsidiary of Zurich International Airport AG, the Swiss concessionaire. Zurich International Airport AG handles the Zurich Airport in Switzerland apart from 8 other airports in Latin America. The company won the bid to construct and manage the airport.

When will the airport start?

The work for the first phase of the greenfield project is underway and would cost over Rs 5,700 crore to complete. As per the CEO of YIAPL Christoph Schnellmann, the airport will be ready by September 2024, if COVID-19 pandemic recovery continues.

"We are all aware of the impact the pandemic has had on all of us in the past two years. One thing I would like to highlight is the fact the teams have embraced digital technologies in coming to terms with the impact of the pandemic. I am proud of this," Schnellmann said.

What about the future expansion?

Once the airport reaches 80 percent of the 1.2 crore passenger mark, the NIA will start the phase two of the project with a similar terminal building capable to handle 18 million passengers. "We estimate that the first phase of the airport would cost Rs 5,730 crore. The Rs 29,560 crore or Rs 30,000 crore is an estimate for the entire project (to be developed in four phases). We have secured funding as well for phase one. We have factored inflation into those estimates," Schnellmann said.

What new will the airport offer?

A report citing Schnellmann states that the design of the terminals of Noida Airport will be inspired by the heritage of Uttar Pradesh and will comprise multiple elements from temples and havelis to give it a local touch. 

Apart from the design of the itself, the airport will be made to achieve net zero carbon emissions from the get go. Delhi International Airport, on the other hand, will achieve this target by 2030.

A multi modal transport network will be created for easy transportation to and from the airport. The airport is situated near the Yamuna Expressway that connects Noida to Agra. There is a proposal to connect the two airports using a rapid metro line as well.

How will the flyers benefit?

The Delhi International Airport is one of the busiest in the country and also the only airport in the national capital region. Being the busiest international airport, the Delhi airport is already operating from three different terminals, two of which are dedicated for domestic airlines.

However, a lot of smaller cities are not connected through the Delhi Airport due to the existing load. It is expected that with the Noida airport, a lot of new Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities will be connected to the NCR region.

In terms of travelling, Delhi-NCR consists of cities like Delhi, Gurgaon and Faridabad that can easily access the Delhi Airport, while it’s far away from two important towns of UP, Noida and Ghaziabad. The Jewar airport is expected to cater to these residents who are travelling to and from Noida and Ghaziabad.

Lastly, industry experts expect that the Jewar airport project will reduce the air ticket pricing. The parking fees and other functional cost of airlines at the Delhi Airport is high as compared to other smaller airports and the Noida Airport is expected to reduce these functional costs by at least half. For any air ticket, passengers have to bear the cost of parking and other overhead costs, including ATF in the final ticket pricing. 

(With inputs from PTI)

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