Noida Airport Opening Pushed Back

Noida Airport Launch Delayed

The construction of Delhi’s second airport, a high-profile project, has been delayed by four months. This adds to India’s airline capacity constraints following a record aircraft order.

Commercial operations will now commence in April 2025, four months later than the planned timetable of the end of 2023, according to a representative for Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL), the firm building the airport. NIAL is owned by Zurich Airport, which won the bid to build the airport in 2019, 18 years after then-Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Rajnath Singh first proposed it.

Indian airlines are suffering capacity constraints at urban airports. The two new airports in Noida and Navi Mumbai are expected to increase capacity, alleviating pressure on airlines that have ordered over 1,200 aircraft in the last year.

According to the concession agreement, Zurich Airport must pay the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA)—the airport’s owner—0.1 percent of the performance security for each day of delay. The Uttar Pradesh administration has previously stated that the amount is approximately Rs 10 lakh. YEIDA officials said that Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra is organizing a meeting next week to decide on the future steps.