Ghaziabad: AAI plans Hindon airport expansion

The airport is planning to launch a new route to Bhubaneswar for which airlines have already opened bookings

The Airport Authority of India (AAI) is planning to expand Hindon Airport in Ghaziabad because it is nearing its saturation point with 600 daily passengers against its capacity of 700–800 daily passengers, AAI officials said on Monday.

The airport is nearing its saturation point with 600 daily passengers against its capacity of 700–800 daily passengers. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The airport is planning to launch a new route to Bhubaneswar for which airlines have already opened bookings. It recently launched flights to Kolkata, Chennai, Goa, Bengaluru (two routes), Mumbai, and Jammu, and has run flights to Adampur, Nanded, Kishangarh, Ludhiana, and Bathinda since 2024. The airport uses the runway of the Indian Air Force base at Hindon, so civil flights can only land and depart between sunrise and sunset, with the airfield used as a military airstrip at other times. Ghaziabad MP Atul Garg has already written to AAI to get connectivity to cities such as Varanasi, Ayodhya, Prayagraj and Lucknow.

“We expect to reach the saturation level soon, and an expansion plan is being considered at the headquarter level. Already, to meet out the increased number of passengers against the present capacity of 150 each of arrivals and departures, we have roped in additional resources such as seating arrangements and security machines according to protocol, and have doubled the capacity from local resources,” said Umesh Yadav, director at the civil airport.

“The response to the new routes is very encouraging as the load factor in flights is 80-90%, and more airlines are showing interest in operating from here. So, expansion is needed. Roughly, we can say that our plan proposes to double the capacity. It will depend on the availability of land nearby, parking space, number of flights, and the airlines’ requirements. The runway is not a limitation as such, but it is the terminal building. The expansion plan is already in process, and it is to be vetted by different departments, including IAF,” Yadav added.

The civil airport at Hindon began operations in October 2019 under the regional connectivity scheme using the Hindon airbase runway while passengers board and de-board from the adjacent terminal.

Officials said they have already flagged several local issues related to traffic on the Wazirabad road, the requirement for more signages, improvement in last-mile connectivity, and other civic infrastructure-related issues during an airport advisory committee meeting held in February.

The airport, approximately 25 km from New Delhi, is accessible via the Hindon elevated road, the Anand Vihar–Mohan Nagar link road, and via the Delhi Metro. It will soon gain direct connectivity to the Sahibabad RRTS station in June 2025 when RRTS trains become fully operational between Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut.