Noida airport to triple flights in July, will rely heavily on IndiGo for it

New Delhi: The newly launched Noida International Airport (NIA) is going to triple its network and flights starting next month after stabilising operations by overcoming both expected and unexpected teething troubles in the last 10 days since launch on June 15.While external challenges like expensive cab rides and airlines cutting flights because of West Asia tensions remain, the operator remains confident about the India growth story, which it says will provide it the required tailwinds.Industry sources said the airport’s bugbear is overdependence on expensive cabs and local traffic is yet to pick up due to connectivity issues, with affordable ways of getting to and from the airport yet to be provided by govt.In its launch phase that saw Air India Express pull out due to the parent AI Group’s mounting losses, the airport currently has 12 daily flights (six arrivals and as many departures) by IndiGo and Akasa to and from five cities — Navi Mumbai, Jammu, Amritsar, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. The first arrival is at 8 am and the last departure of the day is 12 hours later.Speaking exclusively to TOI Thursday, NIA vice chairman Christoph Schnellmann said, “By and large we are very pleased with the first 10 days of operations.

There are issues we continue to work on but have been able to deliver the airport experience to passengers that we were hoping to do so. We got time to stabilise operations by using the infrastructure in a real-life scenario and are now looking forward to July 1 to step up operations when we get connected to 16 to 17 destinations with about 40-45 daily flights.

”From next month, NIA will start having direct flights to and from cities like Mumbai, Srinagar, Jammu, Bareilly, Bhopal, Dehradun, Dharamshala, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kishangarh, Lucknow and Pantnagar.

The first flight will then land before 6am and the last one departs late at night.Asked about the terminal not seeming to be fully ready despite the delay in operations, he said, “That process will continue for the next weeks and months. That’s a normal process of taking this type of large and complex infrastructure online. All things considered, we can be really pleased and proud about what used to be farmland six years ago is now a state-of-the-art airport,” he said.Many passengers who have flown to and from NIA complained of connectivity issues and high cab fares — something that is not in the domain of the airport operator but must be provided by govt.Schnellmann, however, said that is not an issue as the airport is connected to a six-lane expressway and has affordable AC e-bus services by YEIDA to Noida with fares capped at Rs 50. App-based cab fares to Botanical Graden in Noida start at Rs 600.

“On Day 1, Google Location was not working as some interconnecting roads were not shown as open. That issue has been resolved.”Similarly, he exuded confidence about getting traction with airlines, with more carriers going to start more flights and did not see AI Express, one of the three launch airlines, pulling out as a setback. A bulk of the airport’s routes are serviced by IndiGo. It will be the same in July.“We are in touch with both Indian (including AI Group) and foreign airlines and hope to see many of them.

We‘re confident they‘re looking at Noida airport as an important point for their network. There is continued interest among airlines and we see a strong growth throughout our long-term view of the 40 years we hope to be here for,” said the India veteran of Zurich Airports. NIA expects to have the infrastructure for international flights like customs and immigration ready by the end of this year.As of now, NIA has seven food and beverage outlets operational along with other retail stores.

The teething troubles seen in the first 10 days include technical issues with systems like e-gates taking a little longer than expected time to open after scanning boarding cards, DigiYatra accessibility and AC systems. The first fortnight with limited operations was used to stabilise all expected hiccups.The biggest difference between NIA and almost all other airports in India is the fact that you don’t drive right in front of departure area where the entry gate is just a short walk away. And the same on the way back. Here, one has to walk for about 100 metres after getting dropped from the bus, cab or car to enter the terminal or reach the car park after exiting the same. Asked if the terminal will get an elevated road to departure level when it is expanded from current 1.2 crore capacity annually (CPA) to 3 CPA, he said that decision will be taken at the design stage for the same.Work for the expansion will start when the existing terminal handles 80% of its capacity, or 96 lakh passengers in a year. Given the current global uncertainty, Schnellmann did not give a timeline as to when he sees that happening.