LUCKNOW The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet on Friday approved a proposal to rename the Noida International Airport at Jewar as ‘Narendra Modi International Airport, Noida-Jewar’. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath announced the decision, highlighting the airport’s potential to become India’s largest aviation hub.
“The Council of Ministers of UP expresses its gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for gifting the state the Noida International Airport at Jewar, which is going to become India’s largest aviation hub. The Cabinet has approved a proposal to name it Narendra Modi International Airport, Noida-Jewar,” the CM said speaking to the media after a Cabinet meeting here.
“In the coming years, this airport will take the state’s economy, industry, tourism and global connectivity to new heights,” he added.
Adityanath said the Cabinet passed a resolution congratulating Prime Minister Modi on completing 25 years of continuous public service as head of government, with October 7 marking the milestone.
Much significance is being attached to the Cabinet’s move signalling strong faith in the PM’s leadership ahead of 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Adityanath’s two deputies – Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak – along with his ministerial colleagues representing the BJP allies, including Sanjay Nishad, Om Prakash Rajbhar, Ashish Patel and Anil Kumar, were present at the meeting.
The Jewar airport would be the first airport to be renamed after a sitting Prime Minister. Other airports, including the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi; Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport, Lucknow, and Lal Bahadur Shastri Airport, Varanasi, are named after former PMs.
{{/usCountry}}The Jewar airport would be the first airport to be renamed after a sitting Prime Minister. Other airports, including the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi; Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport, Lucknow, and Lal Bahadur Shastri Airport, Varanasi, are named after former PMs.
{{/usCountry}}Praising the PM’s leadership, the CM said the Centre-state coordination under the “double-engine government” had helped UP move towards a new era of development, with improved law and order, transparent governance, infrastructure and investment.
Citing infrastructure development, he said 42 national highways spanning 2,483 km had been built in the state at a cost of around ₹60,000 crore. The Delhi-Saharanpur-Dehradun, Delhi-Meerut and Kanpur-Lucknow expressways had also been completed. The Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Namo Bharat rapid rail system, built at a cost exceeding ₹30,000 crore, had begun operations, alongside metro network expansion in Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Meerut, Ghaziabad and Noida-Greater Noida.
Adityanath said over three crore farmers in UP had received more than ₹1 lakh crore under the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi.
Replying to a question later, UP finance minister Suresh Khanna said the Cabinet’s resolution would be followed by the due process to rename the airport.
Reacting to the UP cabinet’s decision, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said the public is going to oust those who change names.
Taking a dig at the “politics of renaming”, he said some individuals wish to have things named after them during their own lifetimes because they lack confidence that anyone else would do so later. He claimed that the public is poised to replace the government that focuses on renaming.
Responding to a query by media persons in Gosaipur village of UP’s Ballia district, Yadav said the central government is handing over airports — both large and small — to private entities. He remarked that the moment an airport’s connectivity improves, it is sold off.
PM Modi had laid the foundation stone of the greenfield Noida International Airport at Jewar on November 25, 2021. He officially inaugurated its Phase-I on March 28, 2026. Commercial flights started from June 15. It is considered as an emerging alternative to the Indira Gandhi International Airport to handle rapidly growing air traffic.
Developed as the second international airport for the Delhi-NCR region under a public-private partnership between the UP government and Zurich Airport International AG, it aims to heavily boost regional logistics and connectivity.