Ticket sales for Noida International Airport (IATA code DXN) commenced on Thursday, with IndiGo becoming the first carrier to open bookings. The airline will operate flights on 16 routes from the airport, with five services beginning in June and the remaining in July.
Inaugural Flights on June 15
On June 15, when NIA starts commercial operations, the first arrival will be an IndiGo flight (6E 2278) from Lucknow, scheduled to land at 8:05 am. The flight departs from Lucknow's Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport Terminal 3 at 7:05 am. A ticket for this Lucknow-Noida route was priced at Rs 5,072 on the opening day.
The first departure from Noida will be a Bengaluru-bound flight (6E 2278) at 8:35 am, arriving at Kempegowda International Airport at 11:05 am. The return flight to Noida is scheduled for 6:20 pm the same day. Additionally, a flight back to Lucknow will depart Noida at 6:55 pm.
On the inaugural day, flights will also operate to and from Hyderabad and Amritsar. From June 16, IndiGo will add a daily service to and from Jammu.
Expansion from July 1
Starting July 1, IndiGo will introduce daily flights to Navi Mumbai, Srinagar, Jodhpur, Dharamsala, Bhopal, Dehradun, Bareilly, Kishangarh, Jaipur, Pantnagar, and Chandigarh. While most routes will have daily services, flights to Bareilly will operate on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, and to Kishangarh on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. No connections have been announced yet for major cities like Kolkata and Chennai.
Aloke Singh, IndiGo's chief strategy officer, stated: "NIA will be the new gateway for western Uttar Pradesh, alongside the NCR. Large metropolitan regions of India are maturing to support multiple airports, and IndiGo is proud to contribute to this evolution by serving all three in the NCR — IGI Airport, Hindon and now NIA."
Other Airlines and Services
Shailendra Bhatia, nodal officer for NIAL (the UP government's special purpose vehicle for the airport), confirmed that Akasa Air and Air India Express will also open bookings within days and commence operations from June 16 or 17. International flights from Noida are expected only from September. Cargo services are scheduled to begin from June 15.
Regulatory Approvals
The airport has cleared several regulatory hurdles ahead of its launch. Last month, expat CEO Christoph Schnellmann was replaced after the government denied him security clearance, as rules require an Indian national to head greenfield airports. Schnellmann moved to the board as executive vice-chairman, and CFO Nitu Samra was appointed interim CEO. The airport subsequently received approval for its Aerodrome Security Programme from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, confirming that its security framework, systems, and operating procedures meet regulatory requirements.
NIAL also held a meeting on Thursday to expedite remaining work, including landscaping across the airport campus with plants, grass, lighting, and decorative elements.
