New Delhi: The Noida International Airport, which had planned to commence flight operations by the end of this year, is now expected to launch services by April 2025 on account of delays in construction.
“In view of the current construction status, we expect to begin commercial operations by end of April 2025. We are working together with our EPC [engineering, procurement, and construction] contractor Tata Projects Limited and with other stakeholders to keep the pace of construction activities and preparations for operational readiness high,” the airport said in a statement.
Tata Projects is constructing the terminal, runway, airside infrastructure, roads, utilities, landside facilities and other ancillary buildings at Noida International Airport.
According to the statement, construction and development work — on the runway, the passenger terminal and the control tower — is at an advanced stage. “This is a large and complex project, and the next few weeks of construction activities are crucial,” it said, adding that the concessions for ground handling, operation of commercial areas and important maintenance contracts were also awarded recently.
In addition, agreements have been signed with several airlines for flight connections.
The Noida airport — the second international airport in Delhi NCR — is a greenfield airport being constructed in Jewar. The foundation stone of the airport was laid on 25 November, 2021, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The first phase with one terminal and one runway, with a capacity of 12 million passengers per year, was expected to be operational by the end of 2024.
The airport is planned to be built in a 1,334 hectare area in Jewar, and is located at about 72 km from Indira Gandhi International Airport, about 52 km from Noida, and about 130 km from Agra. It is being developed by Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (YIAPL) — a 100 percent subsidiary of Zurich Airport International AG — via public-private partnership (PPP) with an overall investment of Rs 5,730 crore.
The project will be completed in four phases, after which the airport will house two passenger terminals. Terminal 1 will have an annual passenger handling capacity of 30 million and Terminal 2 will have a capacity of 40 million per year.
T1 will be built in two stages — the first for 12 million passengers per year, and the second with an additional capacity of 18 million per year. T2 will also be built in two stages — with a first stage annual capacity of 12 million passengers and second stage capacity of 18 million.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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