Jewar airport: Airport runway work to be completed by end-December

Currently, six of eight floors of ATC building are ready and the remaining two floors will be completed by end-December and the tower handed over to the Airports Authority of India, said officials

The Noida airport runway and air traffic control building will be ready by end-December as work on both these structures are in the advances stages of completion, said officials of Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL) after a review meeting with the secretary of the Union ministry of civil aviation.

NIAL said the runway and the ATC tower will be handed over to the airports authority end of December, 2023, paving way for trial flights to be begin by end of February, 2024. (Biplov Bhuyan/HT Archive)

Currently, six of eight floors of ATC building are ready and the remaining two floors will be completed by end-December and the tower handed over to the Airports Authority of India, said officials.

NIAL, a Uttar Pradesh government body formed to regulate and monitor airport development, informed the Union ministry of civil aviation during an online review meeting on Friday that the runway and the ATC tower will be handed over to the airports authority end of December, 2023, paving way for trial flights to be begin by end of February, 2024.

“We informed the ministry of civil aviation that the work on the project has been fast-tracked and it will be completed as per the schedule deadline. We gave a presentation about the work underway at the site and the ministry officials were satisfied with the progress on the project. We also informed the officials that we are working to provide multimodal connectivity to the Noida airport from Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, Yamuna Expressway and Eastern Peripheral Expressway, among other crucial links and modes of transport,” said Arun Vir Singh, chief executive officer, NIAL.

The Uttar Pradesh government has asked the local agencies, including NIAL and Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida), to build a Metro project providing the connectivity from Noida airport to Greater Noida and rest of the Delhi-NCR. The Yeida has already roped in the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to prepare a detailed project report.

Apart from the Metro and the road connectivity, the state government has also asked the officials to build a pod taxi project to connect Jewar airport with the city of Greater Noida, said officials. The Uttar Pradesh additional chief secretary SP Goyal and other senior officials also joined the online review meeting.

The review meeting is crucial as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to review important infrastructure projects, including Jewar airport, either this month or the month, said officials. The NIAL also informed the online review meeting that the terminal building will be completed by May 2024.

Once completed, phase 1 of the airport will cater to 12 million passengers annually which will increase to 70 million passengers under phase 4. The first phase will have one 3,900 metre runway with a capacity of 28 aircraft stands, and will witness 100,000 air traffic movements per year, said officials. A passenger terminal will also be constructed having an area of 100,000 square metres, said officials.