One of India's most ambitious aviation infrastructure projects, billed as one of the largest in South Asia, was recently inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approximately four years after the foundation stone was laid.
This development provides a significant boost to India's aviation industry.
Noida International Airport, code DXN, is one of the most ambitious aviation infrastructure projects in South Asia and is located in the Delhi region, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which is now the first in India to have five international airports.
The project is considered a key step for the country's aviation development, especially after the recent operation of Navi Mumbai Airport, which serves India's financial capital.
It is a fact that the most populous country in the world and the third largest aviation market is in a major phase of infrastructure construction.
However, Noida International Airport cannot be fully operational from the start. Flights and services are expected to start gradually, with an initial target of serving 12 million passengers per year, increasing to 70 million by 2050.
The total cost of the airport was 296 billion rupees ($3.8 billion). Subhash Goyal, chairman of the country’s Aviation and Tourism Committee, said the airport's location, south of Delhi, would facilitate access to the Taj Mahal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that attracts millions of tourists to the city of Agra every year.
Delhi, Agra and Jaipur form the golden triangle visited by many tourists in India.
"Airplanes will fly from here to all over the world and this airport will also become a symbol of a developed Uttar Pradesh taking off," Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India has also commented.
He added that this entire region reinforces the decision for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat, which means self-reliant India and remains his key policy to transform the country into an economy less dependent on foreign technology and production.
This article first appeared, in Greek, in Hermes Airports' online newsletter, Flight Mode. Click here to view it.
