Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL) conducted the successful first flight validation test for Noida International Airport on December 9. Noida International Airport, popularly referred to as Jewar airport, is likely to be given a nod for starting commercial flight operations starting April 2025.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation gave a nod for the aircraft landing at Jewar Airport after completing all security checks. The landing of the flight took place between 1 pm and 2 pm today. The runway at Jewar Airport is approximately 3.9 kilometers long.
The test flight took off from the IGI Airport and reached Jewar Airport within minutes. The aircraft remained airborne for 1.5 to 2 hours before finally landing at the airport, officials said. Today’s flight did not have any passengers and only the crew members were be onboard.
The trial run will also assess systems like runway performance, airspace coordination, communication protocols, and emergency response readiness, they added. The data collected will be submitted to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for review.
The Jewar airport, which will be the second major airport in the National Capital Region after Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), is located around 90 kilometres (by road) from the IGIA.
The Noida International Airport was earlier scheduled to start operations by the end of this year, but the timeline was extended due to delays in delivery of certain construction materials and equipment due to global supply chain constraints.
The first phase of the Noida International Airport — with one runway and one terminal — will have the capacity to handle traffic of 1.2 crore passengers annually. Eventually, after the completion of the fourth phase, the airport will have the capacity to manage 70 million passengers per year.
The Jewar airport, a marquee project for the Uttar Pradesh government, is being developed by Yamuna International Airport Pvt Ltd (YIAPL), a fully-owned subsidiary of Zurich Airport International AG. YIAPL is also the operator of the airport over a 40-year concession period that started on October 1, 2021.
The Jewar airport will connect the greater Delhi area and Western Uttar Pradesh with flights and will serve as the second airport in the NCR besides the IGIA, which is India’s largest airport.