JEWAR: Noida International Airport (NIA) kickstarted its commercial operations on Monday morning with the first flight arriving at the airport from Lucknow.
Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu launched the departing flights, the first one to Bengaluru with 138 passengers which was closely followed by the return flight to Lucknow with 172 farmers who had parted with their pieces of land for the project. All operations were carried out by on Monday with Akasa Air set to launch operations on Tuesday from NIA.
Among the passengers on board the first incoming flight were a couple with their 3-year-old daughter, who are residents of Navi Mumbai.
Zubaida Ahid told TNIE, "We wanted to be on board the first flight that touched Noida. So we went to Lucknow and stayed there for two days and then took the first incoming flight to Noida. We just cherish travelling by the first flight and did that when operations were launched at Navi Mumbai too last December."
Her daughter, who had donned a pilot cap, was the cynosure of all eyes. "My girl insisted on coming like this to a new airport and we gave in," she added.
Another family keen to take a flight from the new airport was Amit Sharma who had come down with his family from the US to Noida so that his three boys could meet their grandparents.
The older boy Anay was excited about the new airport and said, "It looks so new and shiny compared to Delhi airport. The check-in was fast. I really like this place."
Twins Anush and Arur, being taken on the pram by their father, were excitedly gaping at the bright lights above. Amit said, "We were supposed to travel to Amritsar yesterday but delayed it by a day so that we can take a flight from the new airport."
"The experience has been very good so far. We drove on the Yamuna Expressway and it was a delightful ride to reach the airport."
Noida airport CEO Nitu Samra told TNIE that the airport was targeting connecting 17 to 18 cities by July. "We are looking at transporting 45 lakh to 50 lakh passengers by the end of this year," she said.
Speaking of international operations in the future, she said that airlines from South East Asia and the UAE were showing a keen interest.
Asked about the timing of the launch of operations at Noida during the highly challenging time for the aviation industry posed by the Middle East crisis, Christoph Schnellman, Vice Chairman, NIA, said, "We are very confident of the long-term prospects of aviation in India. We are here for the long run." Recalling how COVID struck a few weeks after they began the project in 2020, he said, "The airport traffic in India had a quicker rebound than anywhere else in the world. After a year and a half, traffic was equal to the pre-covid levels. I am 100 percent sure you will come out of it stronger."
Flights to Hyderabad, Lucknow and Amritsar were also operated by IndiGo today. Akasa Air will launch its flights tomorrow to Bengaluru and Navi Mumbai.
NIA is expected to benefit the population in the Delhi-NCR Region as well as take off some of the load of Delhi's IGIA airport