Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Durga Shankar Mishra inspects the Noida International Airport premises in Noida. | Image credit: ANI

Noida International Airport (NIA), which is expected to begin operations in April 2025 and will serve as the national capital region’s second airport, is pushing for a revision of government policy on bilateral rights and a separate ‘point of call’ status to enable international airlines to connect to the airport.

“Why would an international airline pull out its existing capacity from Delhi airport and use it for Noida international airport when the seat capacity is not increased,” said an industry source privy to the talks between the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the airport. The airport was originally scheduled to start operations in December 2024, which has now been pushed to April 2025.

The government has requested from Dubai, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Singapore and Malaysia, among others, an increase in the number of seats their airlines can offer on flights to India. However, the Indian government claims that airlines routing passengers through the country’s transit hubs such as Dubai and Doha to fill their planes on European and US routes is leading to a loss of passenger traffic for Indian airlines such as Air India that operate long-haul international services. However, there have been changes for the UK and Thailand: the government allowed an additional 14 flights a week from London Heathrow to Delhi and Mumbai airports, and 7,000 additional seats for Thailand.

The airport has also written to the government requesting a separate fetch point, but officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation claim that a fetch point is assigned to a city and not an airport, and that Delhi fetch point includes not only the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport but also the new airport in the national capital region. Officials cite Goa as an example of a fetch point, which they say includes GMR’s Mopa airport, which is due to open in 2023, as well as the old Airports Authority of India airport in Dabolim, both of which are served by international airlines.

However, industry sources said the government needs to at least sign a memorandum of understanding with various jurisdictions to clarify the status of Noida International Airport and ensure a level playing field and equal access.

There were demands for point of entry status for cities like Amritsar, Chandigarh, Kannur and Vijayawada, which were rejected by the government. In the recently concluded Monsoon Session of Parliament, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol, in response to these demands, said, “The Government of India is encouraging more international flights by Indian airlines from non-urban locations, either directly or through its own domestic airports. Accordingly, non-urban airports will not be granted as new points of entry to any foreign air carrier in the air services agreements.”

The minister added that the decision to allow foreign airlines access to new gateways depends on various benefits for the Indian aviation sector, such as the presence of the Indian diaspora in the country, future plans of Indian airlines and elements of reciprocity.

However, industry experts say that while the lack of airport connectivity of tier 2 and 3 cities is in the interest of Indian airlines and the government’s interest in developing its own airports as transit hubs, the case of Noida International Airport is a special case as it was designed as a second airport for the national capital region.

When the then Civil Aviation Minister Gajapathi Raju announced to the press the government’s in-principle approval to build an airport at Jewar in Greater Noida, he said the decision was taken because the IGI airport would reach its structural capacity of 109 million passengers per year by 2024, when Delhi would need a second airport.

Although IGI’s expansion has been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, current capacity is 100-105 million.