26 ‘tall’ trees in flight path of Noida airport need to be removed, says AAI

The Noida airport plans to begin operations with up to 65 flights daily -- 62 on domestic routes, two to foreign destinations, and one for cargo, said Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL), the agency monitoring and overseeing the work of the airport

The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida) on Wednesday said the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has informed that it wants to remove “tall” trees from 26 points on outer periphery of the upcoming greenfield airport project site as these will pose a hurdle in the take-off and landing of aircraft once the airport becomes operational by end-2024.

The forest department will devise an action plan to relocate the trees at the earliest as NIAL wants to clear the path by March-end, when trials will begin at the airport site. (HT Archive)

The Noida airport plans to begin operations with up to 65 flights daily -- 62 on domestic routes, two to foreign destinations, and one for cargo, said Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL), the agency monitoring and overseeing the work of the airport.

In October 2023, the airport received its IATA code — DXN. The Yamuna International Airport Pvt Ltd (YIAPL), a subsidiary of Zurich Airport International AG, is developing this airport, said officials.

The AAI conducted a survey of the flight path to asses whether the landing and take-off of flights will take place smoothly or not in January 2024.

“The AAI survey established that at 26 locations, tall trees have potential to affect the landing/take-off of flights and so they asked us to take steps to remove these and clear the path. These 26 points are outside the boundary of the airport project. We will meet with the forest department officials on removing these trees,” said Arun Vir Singh, chief executive officer Yeida and NIAL.

“The forest department will devise an action plan to relocate the trees at the earliest because we want to take steps to clear the path by March-end, when trials will begin at the site,” said Singh.

The Yeida said the forest department will be told to relocate all trees to a suitable site so that they can survive.

“We will try to relocate and protect all trees. But if any of them are not in a condition to be relocated, then we will fell them take up compensatory afforestation, as per the rules,” said Singh.

Apart from that, the AAI is installing flight related equipment on the 3,900 metre long runway.

The NIAL said the entire structure of the terminal building is ready, and interior work has already started and is expected to be complete before the deadline.

The Noida international airport is being developed on 1,334 hectares. Construction of the runway, terminal building, and ATC tower is underway, said NIAL.