Noida International Airport, also known as Jewar Airport, is an upcoming international airport being constructed near Jewar in Gautam Buddha Nagar district, Uttar Pradesh, India, which will serve the National Capital Region (NCR). The airport is situated in the new planned YEIDA city. Once completed, it will be an alternative to Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi by relieving its high and rising traffic load, and is planned to be India's and Asia's largest airport. The Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL) will be the implementing agency on behalf of the Government of Uttar Pradesh. The airport is to be developed through a public-private partnership model (PPP). In 2019, Flughafen Zürich AG, the operator of Zurich Airport in Switzerland won the bid to build and operate the airport for 40 years. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is also constructing a 31 km greenfield highway from the airport to Sector-65, Faridabad on Delhi–Mumbai Expressway. The proposed plan in Jewar is to build a two-runway airport by 2024, and at a future date, to expand it into a 7200 acre eight-runway airport. According to the plan, the airport will handle 1.2 crore (12 million) passengers per annum initially and up to 6-12 crore passengers per annum, after its expansion over a period of 30 years. It will be the third commercial airport in the National Capital Region, after Indira Gandhi International Airport and Hindon Airport.

History

The project was first proposed in 2001 by then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Rajnath Singh as a greenfield Taj International Aviation Hub (TIAH) at Jewar near Greater Noida, adjacent to the Yamuna Expressway. The Central Government cleared the techno-feasibility report for setting up TIAH in April 2003. It was to be built at an approximate cost of ₹5000 crores by the year 2007–2008. The project was put on hold during the UPA regime because the project site was within 150 km of an existing greenfield airport in Delhi. This site was within 72 km of Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI), Delhi. Its operator GMR Group had protested against plans for another international airport within 150 km of the existing Delhi Airport, claiming that it would impact traffic and revenue generation. GMR has the right of first refusal (RoFR) on a new airport within 150 km of the existing Delhi Airport. The RoFR was to ensure that GMR gets preference in bidding for the Greater Noida airport in case its bid price is within 10% of the lowest bidder. When the Akhilesh Yadav-led government was formed in Uttar Pradesh in 2012, it contemplated shelving the project while proposing a new international airport in Agra. In June 2013, the State Government decided on the Kurrikupa village near Hirangaon, Tundla in the Firozabad district as the site for the proposed airport. In January 2014, the Defence Ministry raised some objections regarding the site near Tundla. The state government allocated land near Etmadpur for the proposed airport in November 2014. In 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was voted to power at the federal level and the project was again shifted back to Jewar. The Civil Aviation Ministry cleared the proposal for the new airport to be set up on 2,200 acre of land in June 2015. In July 2017, the Union Chief Secretary for Aviation warned the Uttar Pradesh government to expedite the planning process as Hisar Airport was also pushing for its competing Union Cabinet approval for building another airport to serve the NCR region, thus prolonging the return on investment for both airports due to a still-feasible-but-diluted viability for both. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) gave an in-principle approval to the Uttar Pradesh government to build the airport in May 2018. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone on 25 November 2021. In June 2022, Tata Projects was awarded the construction tender, aiming to be India's first net-zero emissions airport. An airport hotel owned by the Bird Group was announced in November 2022. The airport was awarded the IATA code "DXN" in September 2023. YIAPL signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with IndiGo as its launch carrier in November 2023, and Akasa Air was added to the list in January 2024. The airport was to be opened for commercial operations in September 2024, however delays have caused the postponement of this date to April 2025.

Location

The Noida International Airport (NIA) is located around 7 km north of Jewar Town in Gautam Buddh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh in India. Noida, Dadri, and Jewar are the three tehsils (sub-divisions) in this district. In October 2017, for the first phase of building the airport, the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) acquired land in villages such as Mukimpur Siwara, Dayanat Pur, Ramner, Kishorpur, Banwari Bas, Ranhera, Rohi, and Parohi. Similarly in January 2021, YEIDA started taking possession of land for the phase-2 expansion in villages such as Ranhera, Shahpur Nangla, Birampur, Karauli Bangar, and Dayanat Pur (Jewar Tehsil). The project site is located 72 km from Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI), the airport that currently serves the needs of the entire Delhi NCR and is quickly reaching its peak capacity. Jewar Airport is 36 km from Bulandshahr, 38 km from Palwal, 60 km from Noida and 70 km from Faridabad, Ghaziabad, and Mathura. It is about 40 km from Pari Chowk in Greater Noida, 65 km from Aligarh, 65 km from Gurgaon and 130 km from Agra. It will be connected to the Yamuna Expressway, allowing domestic and international tourists to reach Agra, Mathura, and Vrindavan.

Connectivity

Alternate airports nearby

Under the National Capital Region Transport Plan, the Hisar Airport (190 km Northwest of IGI & 270 km Northwest of Noida International Airport) is being developed as an alternate to the IGI Airport.

Road

The Noida International Airport (NIA) shall be connected with various highways in Delhi NCR like Ghaziabad–Bulandshahr–Aligarh (NH-34) and Delhi–Ghaziabad–Meerut Expressway. The NHAI is also constructing a 31 km highway which will connect Jewar Airport with Faridabad on Delhi–Mumbai Expressway. The greenfield alignment is as follows (east to west):

Railway

Metro trains

Semi-High Speed Railway

High-Speed Railway

Construction

The project was first proposed in 2001 by the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Rajnath Singh, as Taj International Aviation Hub (TIAH) in Jewar. However, in 2012 the project was shelved by the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav as he planned to build a new airport near Tundla, Firozabad District. The project was revived in 2018 by the BJP government, with allocation of ₹ 1,260 crores for land acquisition, to build the airport under the Public–Private Partnership (PPP) model. In 2019, the land acquisition for the phase-1 commenced, which completed in 2020, Flughafen Zürich AG (Zurich Airport AG) was given the contract for developing and operating the airport for 40 years, and the tender for 760 m road connecting the airport to the Yamuna Expressway was awarded. In 2021, after Airports Authority of India (AAI) approved the master plan for the airport, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone on 25 November, and Zurich Aurport AG started the construction. In 2022, Tata Projects Limited was awarded the civil construction contract. In 2023, the airport was awarded the airport code "DXN" by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Ecological threats

India's environmental ministry had imposed certain conditions for granting approval for the Noida airport, conditions imposed regarding the protection of Dhanauri Wetlands remain ignored by the Uttar Pradesh government and no action has been taken to designate it as Ramsar Site, its land has been allocated by YEIDA for construction resulting in the reduction of the wetland area, and it is under the threat.

Current status