Jewar Airport Goes Live: IndiGo, Akasa Air Start Flying

Noida International Airport (NIA) at Jewar has moved from construction site to operational gateway. Noida International Airport began commercial operations on Monday when an IndiGo flight from Lucknow landed at 7.55 am, weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the facility on March 28. The aircraft touched down to a water-cannon welcome, and within 24 hours a second carrier joined the network. Only IndiGo and Akasa Air are flying from the airport at first; IndiGo starts on day one, and Akasa Air jumps in on June 16.

Not every carrier made the opening cut. Air India Express has deferred its planned launch from the airport, delaying its participation in the greenfield airport's initial phase of operations. Reports point to cost discipline at Air India Express as the reason, with the airline choosing to consolidate its network rather than add a new base immediately. IndiGo, meanwhile, isn't stopping at one route — IndiGo has announced plans to gradually expand its operations from the new airport by introducing flights to more than 16 domestic destinations.

The airport itself is a big-ticket infrastructure bet. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Phase-1 of Noida International Airport at Jewar, developed at a total investment of around 11,200 crore. The first phase is built to handle a serious volume of traffic — Phase 1 capacity stands at 12 million passengers annually with one runway and one terminal, scaling to 70 million passengers under full development by 2050 across six runways. Northern India's foggy winters were clearly on the planners' minds, since the runway is engineered to keep flights moving even in poor visibility.

Beyond passengers, Jewar is being positioned as a logistics and MRO hub. Akasa Air has stated they will be setting up a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility at Jewar Airport, signalling the carrier's long-term commitment to operating from the airport. On the freight side, NIA is also designed to be a cargo and MRO hub, with a multi-modal cargo terminal developed with Air India SATS close to completion. That combination of passenger, cargo, and maintenance operations is exactly the kind of employment driver that tends to pull residential and commercial demand toward an airport corridor.

The launch also carried local significance. A group of 170 farmers travelled from Jewar airport to Lucknow, families that gave their ancestral land for the airport project after receiving compensation. Jewar MLA Dhirendra Singh called it a defining moment for the region, noting "the farmers and agricultural workers who spent their lives cultivating these lands will now undertake their first air journey from the international airport built upon them."

For developers active in Noida, the operational airport is the trigger they've been waiting for. Yash Garg, Director of M3M Noida, framed it plainly: "Jewar Airport inauguration on 28 March 2026 will be a new chapter of history in the real estate sector. Presently, Noida is turning out to be the most connected region in NCR." He added that starting from the Yamuna Expressway, Eastern Peripheral Expressway, Metro connectivity, and Namo Bharat Rail to a global airport connection, Noida is shifting from an affordable-housing hub to a premium and luxury housing destination, with prices speculated to rise 20-30% once the airport is fully functional.

M3M's own Noida portfolio sits squarely in this corridor. Sector 94, where M3M holds a 13-acre land parcel, offers residents quick access to Delhi and South Delhi, with both Noida International Airport and IGI Airport within a 45-minute drive. That dual-airport access is a rare positioning advantage in NCR, and it's already showing up in pricing. At M3M The Cullinan in Sector 94, average property prices moved from ₹19,600/sqft to ₹22,850/sqft during Q2 2026, a 16.58% rise — a sharp jump that coincides directly with the airport's operational timeline.

The airport isn't arriving in isolation either. The proposed Noida International Film City in Sector 21, along the Yamuna Expressway, sits just 4 km from the Jewar Airport area, adding another demand driver to the belt. Combined with expressway upgrades and rail links already in motion, Jewar is shaping up as the connectivity anchor that Gurgaon's airport proximity once was for that city's real estate boom — and buyers evaluating Noida projects today are pricing that comparison in.