Jewar airport to be inaugurated in April by PM Modi: Yogi

Adityanath referred to the flight validation test and said that the facility will help bring “unprecedented prosperity” to the region.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Noida International Airport in Jewar, and reiterated that the airport will be ready for operations by April 2025.

Ongoing construction work at Noida International Airport in Jewar. (HT Photo)

“PM Modi will inaugurate Asia’s largest airport, the Noida International Airport in Jewar, in April,” Adityanath said, during a dialogue in Lucknow with farmers who have contributed their land for the facility.

Spread across 1,334 hectares, the airport — a flagship project of the UP government — is situated along the Yamuna Expressway, and will be the second major airport in the National Capital Region (NCR) after Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport.

On December 9, an Airbus A320 plane from IGI landed at Noida International Airport, marking a crucial step in the commencement of commercial operations at the facility. The IndiGo flight, designated a validation flight, was conducted to verify the airport’s approach procedures, the accuracy and functionality of its navigational aids and air traffic control systems.

Adityanath referred to the flight validation test and said that the facility will help bring “unprecedented prosperity” to the region.

“The successful completion of validation flight on December 9 has paved the way for commercial operations to commence in April 2025. This airport will not only connect Uttar Pradesh to the world, but also transform Jewar into a global hub of economic and industrial activities,” he said.

“The airport will bring unprecedented prosperity to the region. By 2040, it will have the capacity to handle 70 million passengers annually, and its world-class infrastructure will place it among the top airports globally,” he added.

The airport in Jewar, located 35km from Greater Noida along the Yamuna Expressway, is expected to have eight runways once fully completed, and will be double the size of Delhi airport, according to Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL) officials.

Concessionaire Yamuna International Airport Private Limited, a fully owned subsidiary of Swiss firm Zurich International Airport AG, is building the airport for the UP government in a public-private partnership model in four phases, at a cost of ₹29,650 crore.

The first phase, costing ₹10,056 crore, is designed to cater to 12 million passengers annually. Zurich International AG will manage the airport for the next 40 years.

Highlighting farmers’ contribution to the project, Adityanath announced an increase in compensation for land acquisition in the third phase — from ₹3,100 to ₹4,300 per square metre. This development came after several farmer groups in Gautam Budh Nagar protested over what they said was “inadequate compensation” for the acquisition of land.

During the meeting, the chief minister said that farmers will receive interest as per rules, with comprehensive arrangements for their rehabilitation and employment. He also applauded the farmers of Jewar, stating that they have “set an example” of cooperation and trust.