NOIDA: More flights. More destinations. More frequency. And most importantly, more convenience, with flyers — all domestic, to begin with — choosing airports closer to where they live or how smoothly they get to an airport and fly from there.The Delhi megapolis is all set for a major boost in air connectivity with Noida International Airport (NIA) set to become operational by summer. While home to India’s busiest and the world’s ninth-busiest hub — IGI Airport, which can currently handle over 10 crore passengers annually (CPA) across its three terminals — slot constraints there have long meant airlines could not meaningfully add flights, especially during the choked morning and evening peak hours or by using smaller aircraft.For this reason, the Hindon IAF base in Ghaziabad got a civil terminal in Oct 2019 to accommodate regional connectivity scheme (RCS) flights, as IGI simply had no room for them. Post-Covid, Hindon started handling non-RCS scheduled domestic flights too. As of now, it cannot handle more than a handful of commercial aircraft movements because of restrictions that come with being a defence airport.
“It’s impossible to add any flight to or from IGIA. And not just in the peak period (6-8am and 5-8pm), in other hours too. We were surprised when scheduled flights at Hindon started getting great traction, with people living nearby choosing that airport due to convenience. Same happened at Mopa (Goa) as people going to and coming from North Goa prefer that. Noida and Navi Mumbai airports will see a repeat of that,” said a senior airline official.But despite the locational convenience, Hindon is, at best, a stopgap solution. This is where NIA was desperately needed. Not surprisingly, airlines showed such interest in night-parking aircraft to operate more first flights in the day from NCR and NIA had to add more parking bays even before becoming operational. Phase I was originally supposed to have 25 parking bays, but nine more have been built.“Given the demand, I see the airport hitting its Phase I peak (1.2 crore passengers per annum, or CPA) in two years. The airport should have started operations with at least a 2 CPA terminal. RCS connectivity alone will jump 30% to 40% as both Delhi and Mumbai are getting second airports and the existing IGI and CSMIA (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport) did not have slots for UDAN flights,” said VP Agrawal, former chairperson of Airports Authority of India.IndiGo, one of three airlines to launch services at NIA, along with Air India Express and Akasa, has shared its plans. “Delhi-NCR is one of the world’s most densely populated regions and one of the most important sources of aviation demand in India… there is adequate room for multiple airports in NCR to thrive… A multi-airport system in the Delhi-NCR will enable us to serve our customers more efficiently, reduce congestion, enable continued growth and offer greater flexibility,” Abhijit Dasgupta, IndiGo’s SVP (planning and revenue management), said recently.“In addition to catering to the strong Delhi-NCR catchment, NIA represents a significant step forward in ease of aviation access to large population catchments in western UP, an important growth market for future. Additionally, the airport’s integrated design enables the development of a future connecting hub, for quick connectivity between domestic services as well as future growth opportunities in the international space. The IndiGo-NIA partnership will also offer a vast route network to passengers and enhance business opportunities in the region,” Dasgupta added.An airport’s evolution is a long-drawn process. Commercial flights were shifted from Safdarjung to Palam Airport in 1962 as air traffic grew and aircraft became bigger. Palam is yet to see its final phase of development, with the 1986-era T2 — which gave the airport its new name, IGI airport — set to make way for a bigger T4. Similarly, NIA’s ultra-long-haul journey is only just beginning, with Phase I serving as its taxiing stage.How will NIA impact IGI?Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) recently commissioned a traffic study by global consulting firm ICF International to gauge the impact of the Covid recovery and the opening of NIA on its footfalls.“Based on present travel times, 58% of the population in the total catchment area of IGIA and NIA may prefer IGIA over NIA; 31% may prefer NIA over IGIA; and 11% may prefer both. Residents on the western side, particularly Haryana, shall be more inclined to use IGIA due to better travel times. Many districts in eastern UP have shorter travel times to NIA, making it a more attractive option for local residents…. NIA will have more passengers from eastern UP and parts of Haryana with lesser travel time,” the ICF study said.While IGIA will see some passenger and cargo movement shift to NIA, ICF believes the former has a “clear” competitive advantage. The reason? IGIA’s catchment area is more urbanised and economically stronger.DIAL’s biggest worry is not the loss of footfalls and cargo to NIA. Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) accounts for 45% of airlines’ operating costs in India. UP has levied 1% VAT on jet fuel for NIA, while Delhi govt imposes 25% tax on ATF at IGI. So, apart from slot availability, lower jet fuel prices at Noida are likely to attract airlines. DIAL has for months been seeking a “level playing field” with NIA on jet fuel taxation.DIAL plans to expand IGIA’s capacity to 12.5 crore passengers annually by 2029-30, after which, depending on traffic demand, T2 could be razed to make way for a bigger T4. But clearly, NIA will affect IGIA differently from the way Navi Mumbai will affect Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA). Mumbai’s existing airport has been operating at peak capacity, handling about 5.5 crore passengers annually, and airlines simply cannot add more flights there. So, it doesn’t compete with Navi Mumbai for traffic.
