India Approves Second Airport For New Delhi

The Indian government has approved plans to build a new international airport for New Delhi at a cost of INR100 billion rupees (USD$1.55 billion) for the first phase of construction.

Noida International Airport will be built on a 3,000 hectare greenfield site at Jewar in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The first phase, with a single runway, will be operational in 4-5 years, India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation said.

Subsequent phases of development will see three additional runways and expand capacity to cater for the expected 30-50 million passengers annually over the next 10-15 years. Total cost of the airport is expected to be INR150 billion to INR200 billion rupees (USD$2.33 billion-$3.1 billion).

The new airport, south-east of the capital, will be 72 km from New Delhi’s current airport Indira Gandhi International and close to the Yamuna Expressway, the main highway between New Delhi and Agra.

New Delhi’s metro train will be extended to Jewar as part of multi-modal connectivity, the Civil Aviation ministry said.

Traffic at Indira Gandhi Airport, is projected to rise from 55.6 million passengers in 2016 to 109 million by 2024 as low cost airlines have flourished and more Indians can afford the cost of air travel.