Noida Jewar Airport operations begin: All you need to know

Commercial flight operations have officially begun at the Noida International Airport (NIA) in Jewar, with IndiGo flight 6E-2278 from Lucknow becoming the airport's first scheduled passenger service on June 15.

The aircraft touched down at 7:55 am after departing Lucknow's Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport at 7:05 am, marking the operational launch of India's newest greenfield airport. The airport's opening comes after a delay of nearly two years from earlier announcements as well as last-minute hiccups over security clearances for the foreign CEO, which further pushed back the start of operations.

The timing could not have been worse for the airport to begin operations, as the airline industry is rattled by the war in West Asia and the subsequent rise in crude oil prices, putting pressure on margins. The start of flight operations coincides with the lean season in India, particularly one in which airlines have curtailed capacity due to the ongoing West Asia conflict and a rise in aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices.

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The airport is expected to boost the National Capital Region's (NCR) capacity over a longer term. However, initially, there will be challenges as the airport is quite far from major city areas and lacks connectivity.

Who is starting operations?

IndiGo and Akasa Air will start operations from NIA. The Air India group has decided to wait it out.

NIA has begun operations with 140 weekly flights, with IndiGo scheduled to operate 126 weekly flights, while Akasa Air will operate 14 weekly departures, with a daily departure each to Bengaluru and Navi Mumbai. On the contrary, the airline had started with 20 weekly flights from Navi Mumbai and scaled up subsequently. Currently, the airline offers 58 weekly flights, while IndiGo offers 389 weekly flights from Navi Mumbai.

The airport is connected to 15 destinations as operations begin, some of which are exclusively served by the ATR 72-600 of IndiGo. Some of these could be placeholder routes to begin with as operations stabilise and people get used to the operations and, subsequently, the airline could change the routes at good-timed slots that are on offer when any airport starts operations.

The inaugural commercial flight was IndiGo's service from Lucknow. To mark the occasion, the flight carried 170 farmers and agricultural workers, including 20 women, whose land was acquired for the airport project. Accompanying them was Jewar MLA Dhirendra Singh. After a brief turnaround at the new terminal, the aircraft departed for Bengaluru at 8:35 am, becoming the airport's first outbound commercial service.

The airport is not restricted to 12-hour operations like was the case with Navi Mumbai airport when it began operations. However, the international operations remain a mystery. It remains to be seen when international operations start from NIA and which destinations it covers. The contentious issue of Bilateral Air Services Agreement designating NIA, Jewar, as a point of call will be a long road unless the government classifies all airports in NCR as Delhi and sharing the points of call.

Will the two airports be connected?

Over a period of time, there is a plan to connect Delhi Airport to NIA. However, currently, there is a serious lack of connectivity.

The airport will be closer for residents of Greater Noida and Faridabad while other areas of NCR will likely find the existing airport to be closer as well as better connected. The availability of multiple flights across the day and multiple destinations will also make a difference in the initial days. The question then shifts to this being a chicken and egg problem — whether new destinations are added first or more passengers.

What next?

As the two greenfield airports, Navi Mumbai and Jewar, were moving in parallel, a comparison is bound to happen.

Both of these airports have been delayed. Navi Mumbai started operations in December whereas the NIA was stuck with regulatory processes until the group appointed an Indian national at the helm. With both airports now operational, their trajectory will be closely watched.

At Mumbai, both the airports are operated by the same group while at Delhi, NIA is the third airport and also the third operator with Hindon, Ghaziabad, being a civil enclave operated by state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI). With the capacity of Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport now at 100 million passengers a year, and utilisation less than 80 per cent, the airport will fight tooth and nail to get more passengers and aircraft movements over NIA. The proximity to the city, connectivity with metro rail will help it further. On the other hand, NIA has grand plans but remains dependent on the government for infrastructure-building and connectivity.

The airport, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March after receiving its aerodrome licence from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), opens with a capacity of 12 million passengers annually and features AI-enabled surveillance systems and DigiYatra biometric processing facilities.

While Navi Mumbai International Airport entered the top 10 domestic airports in April, it will take much longer for Noida International Airport to achieve that feat. NIA opens with a capacity of 12 million passengers annually, while Navi Mumbai opened with a capacity of 20 million passengers annually.