Noida International Airport (NIA) will be formally inaugurated on October 30, with passenger services expected to commence within 45 days, Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu confirmed this week.
In its first phase, NIA will operate a single runway and terminal with annual handling capacity of 12 million passengers, initially connecting around 10 cities, largely metros including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata. International operations are planned at a later stage.
Concessionaire Yamuna International Airport Pvt. Ltd. (YIAPL) has secured agreements with IndiGo and Akasa Air. IndiGo, designated as launch carrier, will anchor the airport’s domestic network, while Akasa is positioning NIA as a hub for both metro and regional services.
Operational readiness efforts are advancing with an ORAT (Operational Readiness Activation and Transition) programme covering trial runs, system simulations and staff training. Baggage systems, check-in counters, security scanners and boarding gates are undergoing live testing. Airside security clearance from BCAS was secured on September 15, paving the way for DGCA’s aerodrome licence inspection.
Capacity expansion will follow a four-phase plan, with the airport scaled to handle 30 million passengers in Phase 2, 50 million in Phase 3, and up to 70 million annually on completion. In its opening year, throughput is projected at six million passengers.
While the project has faced repeated delays—initially targeted for September 2024 and later pushed into mid-2025—progress has accelerated following state intervention and penalties imposed on the developer. Core infrastructure is now complete, with final work underway at the passenger terminal and ATC tower.
The greenfield hub has been designed with advanced security architecture, including more than 350 CCTV cameras, perimeter fencing, a Unified Security Operations Centre and CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) principles. Passenger processing will feature 13 automated tray retrieval security lanes, in-line baggage screening, and biometric-enabled checks.
NIA represents one of India’s most ambitious aviation infrastructure projects, intended to decongest Delhi IGI Airport and position the NCR as a dual-hub gateway.
