Overview
- Noida International Airport began contacting airlines to open ticket sales after BCAS approved its Aerodrome Security Programme, which starts a mandatory 45-day wait before flights can begin.
- The Aerodrome Security Programme is the regulator’s required plan for screening, access control, perimeter safeguards, staffing, surveillance, and emergency response that every new airport must meet.
- IndiGo is slated to be the launch carrier, with Akasa Air and Air India Express also planning initial services as schedules, slots, and booking dates are finalized.
- Operations will start with mostly domestic routes such as Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata, with international flights expected a few months after domestic services settle.
- An interim Indian CEO, Nitu Samra, was appointed after rules requiring a national to serve as a greenfield airport’s security coordinator led to a leadership change, and phase one will open with one runway and one terminal for about 12 million passengers a year as the project aims to ease Delhi IGI congestion while final tariff orders and airline confirmations are completed.