The fortunes of a Swiss airport town bordering Germany are connected with Noida. While Jewar has been under discussion for years, the Uttar Pradesh government might now be more than ready to expedite the Noida airport project, especially with state elections round the corner. But the Zurich Airport authority seems to be in a greater hurry than the Yogi government to get Noida airport up and running.
Interesting, isn’t it? We’ll delve into that. But first, let’s look into the details of the upcoming airport.
The greenfield airport, spread over 1,334 hectares, is being developed as a public-private partnership between the Uttar Pradesh government and Zurich Airport, which outbid Adani Enterprises and the GMR group to win the project.
Zurich Airport is investing Rs 5,700 crore for phase-1 and has tied up Rs 3,725 crore in debt from the State Bank of India. The airport's phase-1 will cost Rs 8,916 crore. The Uttar Pradesh government is spending Rs 4,326 crore on land acquisition, rehabilitation and settlement.
The airport will have two terminal complexes. In the first phase, it is expected to handle 12 million passengers annually through Terminal 1. In the second phase, Terminal 1 will generate an additional capacity of 18 million passengers. By 2050, the airport will handle 70 million passengers annually, with Terminal 1 handling 30 million passengers and Terminal 2 seeing 40 million passengers.
But with Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport not having reached saturation in capacity, will the Jewar airport be able to generate adequate passenger demand?
Christoph Schnellmann of Zurich Airport, who is CEO of Delhi Noida International Airport, believes so. In an interview with Business Standard, Schnellmann said passenger traffic will triple in the next 40 years.
Will Jewar airport be Asia’s largest? It is expected to have two runways in the first phase. By the end of all six phases of construction, the Jewar airport will have six runways.
Until now, Delhi’s IGI Airport is India’s busiest, with three terminals seeing passenger traffic of 67.3 million in FY20, before the pandemic sent the aviation industry into a tizzy.
In 2019, seven Asian airports were handling over 70 million passengers each.
The Jewar airport will be able to handle 70 million passengers only by 2050, once all its phases of construction are completed.
However, a PwC study estimates that in its first year of operation, the Jewar airport will see a footfall of five million passengers. This will increase to 21 million by 2030-31, to 54 million by 2039-40 and 91 million by 2048-49.
Nevertheless, claims about it being Asia’s largest airport seem a bit premature, especially considering that existing airports including Delhi’s IGI airport are also being continuously expanded.
Now let’s understand how Switzerland’s capital Zurich’s fortunes are tied with the Noida International Airport.
Zurich airport lies just 15 miles from the German border, and Germany has imposed restrictions on the use of its airspace between 10 pm and 6 am on weekdays, and 8 pm and 9 am on weekends. There are also height restrictions on descending aircraft which make landing manoeuvres at Zurich a tricky affair during these hours. No-fly hours have reduced Zurich’s handling capacity from 39 landings an hour to 20-28 landings, thereby increasing the airport operation costs.
In India too, the Jewar airport has significant political appeal, ahead of next year’s assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
The airport will make Uttar Pradesh the only state to have five international airports, with Lucknow, Varanasi, Kushinagar and Ayodhya being the other four. In all, Jewar will be the tenth airport in the state.
The airport will have multi-modal connectivity owing to its proximity to the Greater Noida-Agra Yamuna Expressway, and the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, and will be linked with the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway at Ballabhgarh, the Khurja-Jewar NH 91 and the dedicated freight corridor. This will ensure that Jewar Airport ties in with the Centre’s ambitious Gati Shakit master plan.
 "The many fortunes riding on Noida's Jewar airport")
