Noida: From influencers to milestone tourists, many of the Day 1 fliers in and out of Noida airport did so to become a part of aviation history. Taking the first commercial flight were also businessmen and working executives headed to Amritsar, Lucknow and Bengaluru.
Anjali (23) and her husband Deep Sagar (24) arrived dressed in matching white-and-blue outfits mirroring IndiGo's livery, having planned their look in advance. Their flight to Amritsar was at 10.10am, but the couple reached by 7am, travelling from Bulandshahr to be among the first passengers out of NIA. Anjali, who has around 10,000 Instagram followers, spent the morning photographing and filming the terminal.
"I always wanted to travel on one of the first flights from here. It was my dream," she said. "It is history, and we are part of it," Deep said.
For 27-year-old farmer Sachin Sagar of Thora village, the day carried a different significance. His family had given land for the airport project, and he had made himself a quiet promise. On Monday, holding his two-year-old daughter as they prepared to board a flight to Amritsar, he said: "When I gave my land for the airport, I imagined that one day my daughter would take her first flight from here. Today that day has come." The toddler spent the wait waving at strangers.
Nearby stood Rani, travelling to Lucknow. Clutching her boarding pass and looking around the terminal with open curiosity, she said it was the first time she had seen an airport from the inside. "I will remember this forever," she said.
Not everyone had a pressing reason to travel. Manoj Kumar Jain, managing director of Deep Blue Express, flew in from Lucknow with no particular agenda. "I just wanted to experience the first flight and be part of opening day," he said.
Akshay Malhotra, an Instagram influencer with nearly 10 lakh followers, was on the Amritsar-bound flight and came away impressed by the interiors. "I have been to many airports, but this felt like luxury — extremely comfortable sofas, a great view of the runway. There were good food outlets too: KFC, Subway," he said, adding that the lounge was not accessible and the bus transfer to the aircraft was a letdown. "Overall, though, it was worth the hype."
Harsh Vardhan, a businessman, was delighted by something more mundane — his bag was already on the conveyor belt by the time he reached it. "It is fun not having to stand there staring at everyone else's luggage," he said.
Among the first departures was Pintu Sharma of Kushinagar, who boarded an IndiGo flight to Bengaluru before connecting to Malaysia, where he works. "IGI is farther away and traffic congestion is always a challenge. I stayed at my relative's house in Kulesra for a day before taking the flight from here," he said. He usually flies from IGI but chose NIA for its proximity to western UP. The journey was not without a hitch. Arriving by autorickshaw with two relatives, Sharma was stopped at the entrance and told the vehicle was not permitted on campus. He walked nearly a kilometre to the terminal with his luggage.
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