On board flight 6E 2278 at 8:05 am on June 15, a short hop on a medium-range aircraft marked a giant leap for Delhi-NCR. As IndiGo's inaugural Lucknow-Noida flight landed Monday morning to a water cannon salute, the code DXN quietly entered the country's aviation map, giving the national capital region its newest international airport and its second one.
First Passengers Welcomed with Blue Carpet
The first passengers to Noida received a blue carpet welcome at the IndiGo counters at Lucknow airport on Monday. A journalist who had been following this project from 2006 to 2018 and saw it take shape during the difficult days of Covid woke up excitedly at 3 am in Lucknow to prepare for this first flight. News of a US-Iran peace deal at sunrise seemed like a good omen for the new airport, with hopes that airlines would restore slashed flights in coming weeks.
175 Passengers Booked for Inaugural Flight
At Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport, 175 other passengers had also come to Lucknow a day in advance just to be on the inaugural flight, an IndiGo-operated 186-seater Airbus A320 named VT-IOM. Around 80 business executives boarded the flight, anticipating that the once sleepy Agra expressway would resemble the Dwarka or Gurgaon expressways in the coming years. Among the passengers was a couple inspired by newspaper profiles of a commuter who was on the first service of every route launched by Delhi Metro. Another couple from Mumbai dressed their three-year-old daughter as a pilot, who later became the star attraction on board, to be on this flight and later fly out to Amritsar from Noida International Airport (NIA).
Flight Details and Transit Passenger
IndiGo captains Ranjeev Kapoor and Prateek Tripathi informed that the first of this inaugural route's 450km journey would take about 45-50 minutes. One passenger, Tanisha Srivastava from Lucknow, who is pursuing an undergrad course in London, had two firsts to her credit. She said, 'I was making a Lucknow-Bengaluru-Kuala Lumpur booking on IndiGo. I was booked on this flight as the same aircraft will proceed to Bengaluru. So, I am one of the first transit passengers from NIA.'
Descent and Landing at NIA
Shortly after, the aircraft began its descent into NIA. Instead of seeing a dust bowl typical of north India this time of year, the view was of green fields, thanks to recent rain. The aircraft smoothly touched down amid applause and a water cannon salute by NIA's fire tenders. So excited were the travellers that most stood up even as the aircraft was still taxiing. Standing up before plane doors open is a common Indian habit, but that usually happens after the plane has come to a halt. On a day of firsts at Noida airport, this was another – one that the airport would not want to see repeated.
Terminal Experience and Connectivity
On arrival, the NIA terminal's current capacity of 1.2 crore passengers annually is the same as that of Indira Gandhi International Airport's Terminal 2. It took about 5-7 minutes to walk to the baggage carousel area. NIA aims to impress with its efficient, fast passenger movement rather than its looks. For seeing the Taj Mahal, one must drive 140km towards Agra. NIA ensures quick exit and boarding of cars. Despite the long delay in its opening, parts of the terminal are not yet ready. Work is in progress at the carousels. With no carpets, pushing baggage with wheels is easy. The journalist exited the airport in under 15 minutes without baggage, but the new facility demanded time. The only mode of transport currently and for the foreseeable future is private vehicles and cabs, whose availability was not fully tested on Day 1 as many passengers had cars waiting. Luckily, NIA has mobile network, unlike Navi Mumbai airport which opened last year.
Travel Time Comparison
The flight from Lucknow to NIA took about 50 minutes. The drive from the airport to the journalist's house in Delhi near AIIMS, 78km away, took about 100 minutes in peak morning traffic. Clearly, connectivity will be make or break for the new airport in the initial phase, as even for residents of Noida, Indira Gandhi International Airport is closer. Otherwise, like Neil Armstrong after his 'giant leap', the journey home will be long, arduous, and expensive.
