New Delhi: Days after replacing its expat CEO with an Indian one to overcome a regulatory hurdle, Noida International Airport (NIA) received its final clearance on Monday, allowing preparations to begin for the commercial launch. With the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) clearing the aerodrome security programme (ASP), NIA's launch airline partners — IndiGo, Air India Express, and Akasa — are expected to start selling tickets for domestic flights soon.
The first flight from NIA is likely to take off in the first week of June. An aviation ministry official said, “The first week of June will be an important time for Delhi-NCR’s aerial connectivity. While NIA will start domestic operations, Delhi’s IGI Airport will start its hub-and-spoke operations to enable seamless transfers (like those at Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, or Frankfurt) between domestic and international flights.” This means Delhi’s IGI will set into motion the process of turning into a hub airport for international flyers from different cities, giving them a smoother transit experience that integrates certain processes at the spoke airport with the hub airport.
The double boost for aviation in Delhi-NCR comes at a challenging time for airlines, which are battling cost overruns and a fall in international travel because of the US-Israel war with Iran. IGI Airport’s international capacity will increase from a little over 2 crore passengers annually to 3.2 crore after the recently converted international pier at Delhi IGIA’s T3 (Pier C) becomes operational next week. In about a month from that, seamless transfers will start, and airside transit will also be rolled out between T1 and T3. So, while India’s busiest airport, IGIA, begins its journey to becoming a hub, NIA will take flight as Delhi’s second international airport.
“The aviation ministry is trying to ensure Indian airlines come out of this current difficult phase (Iran war) through measures like reduction in major airport charges for three months; keeping jet fuel prices in check at least for domestic flights; an emergency credit scheme and the new UDAN scheme. All these steps are meant to ensure airlines survive this current phase and then thrive, providing connectivity at reasonable fares to passengers going ahead,” said an official.
Approval for Noida airport’s ASP came through after it appointed chief financial officer Nitu Samra as interim CEO. “ASP (aerodrome being a Raj-era term) covers all aspects of an airport’s security, including perimeter security, anti-hijacking measures, access points security, and background checks for people working there for issuance of airport entry passes. This is the most crucial clearance for an airport before it can get operational. In Noida’s case, the same was pending due to the expat CEO issue. BCAS does constant reviews and audits of the same during the lifetime of an airport. Any shortcoming found has to be corrected within a certain timeframe,” said a person in the know.
NIA said last week in a statement after getting its ASP approved, “We will coordinate with all stakeholders to finalise timelines for the commencement of commercial operations. Our efforts are focused on ensuring that all systems, processes, and personnel are fully aligned to deliver a safe, efficient, and seamless start of operations.” Now with that out of the way, Noida will begin operations with domestic flights — just like Mopa in Goa and Navi Mumbai before it did.
