Jewar Airport in Noida inaugurated; flight operations likely from next month
Noida (Uttar Pradesh), Mar 28: In a major news related to aviation sector, the first phase of the Noida International Airport at Jewar, close to Delhi, was inaugurated today and as per the initial indications, flight operations are expected to begin in a month or so.
The Jewar airport is the second one in the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi, with the first being the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the national capital.
Developed at a cost of Rs 11,200 crore, the first phase of the airport was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an event attended by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu and other dignitaries.
The airport is designed as a multi-modal transport hub, integrating road, rail, metro, and regional transit systems.
The project also includes a cargo facility, with an initial handling capacity of over 2.5 lakh metric tonnes annually, expandable to around 18 lakh metric tonnes.
When are flight operations likely to start:
The much-awaited project, which has seen several revisions of the deadline, saw a significant development on March 6 when the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) granted it the aerodrome licence, a mandatory clearance before operations can begin.
The flight services are expected to start in around 45 days after the grant of licence to the airport.
And since the licence was granted on March 6, it is expected that the flight operations will start some time in the second half of April.
In the initial months, only domestic flights will operate and international services may start in the later half of this year, according to reports.
Passenger capacity in the initial phase is expected to be 12 million passengers per annum (MPPA), with scalability up to 70 million MPPA in later stages.
Routes:
As of now, there is no clarity regarding the routes to be covered in the initial phase.
But, it is expected that flights would be operated to and fro major Metro cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.
The operationalisation of this airport is likely to decongest and reduce the mounting burden on the Indira Gandhi International Airport, located in south Delhi, close to Gurgaon. (BVI)
