UP Budget 2023: Noida International Airport Set to Be India's Largest, To Have Five Runways Instead Of Two

The upcoming Noida International Airport (NIA) at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh will have five runways instead of two. 

The announcement was made by the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister, Suresh Khanna, this week while presenting the state budget for fiscal year 2023-24 under CM Yogi Adityanath’s second term.

Phase-wise Expansion

The airport, billed to be India's largest upon completion, will be developed in four phases, with two interconnected terminals and an annual passenger capacity of 70 million.

The first phase spread over 1,334 hectare will have one runway, cargo hub along with a terminal that will cater to domestic and international passengers. As per the concession agreement, the first phase for 12 million passengers per annum is to be completed and made operational by September 2024.

The first expansion of the airport - construction of the second runway and the terminal building - will start once it reaches 80 per cent of the 12 million passengers per year capacity.

Similarly, the development of the third, fourth and fifth runways will begin when footfall increases from 12 million to 30 million, 50 million and 70 million.

The work on the first phase of the Noida Airport is complete by nearly 25 per cent.

Tata Projects, which is the contractor for the project has been carrying out the construction of the terminal building, runway and air traffic control (ATC) in full swing. At present, the concreting work of the terminal piers is continuing, even as the land for the runway is being levelled.

The second phase of the NIA is planned in an area of 1,365 hectare, for which the survey work is currently being undertaken across six villages - Ranhera, Kureb, Dayanatpur, Karauli Bangar, Mundrah, and Birampur in Greater Noida.

Also land acquisition for the third runway will begin as the proposal has been approved by the state Cabinet. Close to 1,335 hectare of land will be required for the project. Later, 2,053 hectare will be needed for the fourth and fifth runways.

The Jewar airport is understood to be the "most important" project of the state government and is being personally monitored by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Adityanath, during his inspection of the airport site in September 2022 had asked the project developers to speed up the airport work, by increasing the number of staff and machines, so that the project is completed by early 2024 and the first flight scheduled for September 2024 takes off on time.

The greenfield airport at Jewar will enhance domestic as well as international connectivity to and from Delhi-NCR, Noida and Western Uttar Pradesh.