Noida airport inauguration: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday said the long-awaited Noida International Airport at Jewar is likely to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi later this month, signalling that the ambitious aviation project is finally nearing completion.
Speaking at a press conference on the Union Budget, Adityanath said the greenfield airport is “ready” and that only the final regulatory clearance remains. The crucial aerodrome licence from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), he said, is in its last stage of approval. “I believe that this month, the airport will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister,” the chief minister said.
Final Clearance Awaited Before Launch
Once operational, the Jewar airport will become the second international airport in the National Capital Region, a development expected to significantly ease congestion at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. It will also mark Uttar Pradesh’s fifth international airport, after Lucknow, Varanasi, Kushinagar and Ayodhya.
Officials familiar with the project said the DGCA’s aerodrome licence is the final major prerequisite before commercial operations can begin. According to them, a review meeting is expected later this week involving Union Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and the airport’s management. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.
Key Project in NCR Aviation Expansion
The Noida International Airport is one of India’s largest public-private partnership infrastructure projects in the aviation sector. Spread across nearly 1,300 hectares in Jewar, Gautam Buddh Nagar, the project was awarded in October 2020 to Zurich Airport International AG. It is being developed and operated by Yamuna International Airport Pvt Ltd, the Swiss firm’s Indian subsidiary, under a 40-year concession.
Prime Minister Modi laid the foundation stone for the airport in November 2021. The first phase, comprising a single runway and a passenger terminal, was initially scheduled to open in September 2024 but faced multiple delays. Once launched, the phase will have the capacity to handle about 12 million passengers annually, with further expansion planned in later stages. The Uttar Pradesh government is overseeing the project through its special purpose vehicle, Noida International Airport Ltd.
The airport moved a step closer to operational readiness on October 31, 2025, when it successfully conducted a mandatory calibration flight. An Air India aircraft landed at the site around 11.20 am and carried out several hours of tests to validate critical navigation and communication systems.