The wait that has dragged on for years for Delhi-NCR's air travellers is now down to a handful of days. The Noida International Airport, built at Jewar in Gautam Buddh Nagar, will go live with its first commercial flight on 15 June 2026 — and IndiGo will fly it. With that, Delhi-NCR gains its second international gateway, a development that directly widens air access for millions of people across the region.
When, from where, and on which routes
The inaugural flight will run from Lucknow to Noida. It is scheduled to leave Lucknow at 7:05 AM and land in Noida at 8:05 AM — a journey of exactly one hour. The route map grows quickly from there: Bengaluru service joins on 16 June, and from July 2026 flights will also operate to Navi Mumbai, Bhopal, Dehradun, Jodhpur and Bareilly.
IndiGo may be first off the mark, but Akasa Air and Air India Express are set to begin operations from here soon after. International flights, meanwhile, are being lined up to start by the end of the year.
What's in it for the passenger
The entire design leans toward making travel faster and friction-free. Flyers will have self check-in kiosks, biometric boarding under DigiYatra, automated baggage drop counters and a fully paperless travel system. In practical terms, that means a sharp cut in both queues and waiting time.
Comfort and shopping have not been overlooked. The terminal houses a spacious waiting lounge, a separate premium lounge for business and first class travellers, a duty free shopping zone, along with restaurants and a food court.
On the technical side, the 3,900-metre runway has been fitted with an advanced navigation system and modern airfield lighting. That is precisely the setup that will keep flights operating even through North India's notoriously thick winter fog.
The biggest win for Noida and Greater Noida
The airport's standout strength is its location. It lies roughly 72 kilometres from IGI Airport, 40 kilometres from Noida, and just 28 kilometres from Greater Noida. Travellers who until now spent hours simply getting to the Delhi airport will be able to catch their flights in a fraction of that time.
To make reaching it easy, the airport is being linked to the Yamuna Expressway, the Western and Eastern Peripheral Expressways and the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway. Metro connectivity from Delhi and Noida is also on the way.
CEO Nitu Samra at the helm
Steering the entire operational launch is the airport's interim CEO, Nitu Samra. She had served as CFO here since October 2021 and now carries full charge of the launch. Her stated goal is not merely to get flights into the air, but to give passengers a better and quicker experience.
The airport by the numbers
In Phase-1, the airport will handle 1.2 crore passengers a year, and once fully developed that capacity is expected to climb to 7 crore. Built at a cost of around 11,200 crore rupees, it aims to run as a net-zero emissions facility. In short, 15 June is the day the ground at Jewar truly connects to the sky, opening a new and far more convenient route for the crores of travellers spanning western UP to the NCR.
