Noida International Airport takes off, but the journey to Jewar remains a work in progress

About 70 km from central Delhi, the Yamuna Expressway leads to an airport that is pulling an entirely new landscape in its wake. In the last few kilometres before Noida International Airport in Jewar, residential towers, warehouses and commercial projects crowd the roadside, signalling a new ecosystem taking shape around it.

Inside, the contrast is immediate. The terminal is spacious, orderly and almost unhurried. But beyond the glass, unfinished stretches of land and active construction are constant reminders that the airport is still finding its feet. Two-and-a-half months after commercial flights began on June 15, that contrast defines the experience: a smooth airport at the heart of a project that is still catching up.

For residents of Noida and Greater Noida, the airport has considerably reduced travel time. For many in Delhi, however, cab fares and the absence of direct public transport continue to make the journey a trade-off since commercial flights began operating on June 15.

The airport, spread across 1,334 hectares in Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Buddha Nagar district, is currently operating its first phase, connecting around 15 cities with roughly three to 35 flights a day.

A difficult commute

Soumit Joshi, a student from Greater Noida travelling to Lucknow, found the airport geographically closer but not necessarily easier to access.

“This is my first time flying from Noida International Airport. Delhi airport is farther for me, but getting there is much easier and cheaper,” he said.

He took an autorickshaw to the airport but was stopped at the main gate because autos are not permitted beyond that point. After waiting for around 10 minutes with his luggage, he had to take a cab for the remaining 1-1.5 km to the terminal, adding around ₹120 to his cost.

Rohan Sharma, a technology professional from Moti Bagh travelling to Navi Mumbai, found the cost to be the bigger deterrent. His cab fare exceeded ₹1,700 despite travelling outside peak hours. For his family, he estimated that the fare would be around ₹3,200.

“The airport experience was very smooth, but without cheaper and reliable public transport from Delhi, I would think twice before using it again,” he said.

Khushi Tewari, a resident of Lajpat Nagar travelling to Jaipur, had a similar experience. A private car aggregator quoted ₹3,000 for a one-way journey to Jewar airport, roughly the price of her flight ticket. When an app-based cab was unavailable on the morning of her flight, her father drove her.

The journey took about two hours to reach the airport’s vicinity and another 20 minutes to reach the terminal.

“Overall, I think I may have spent more than I would have by simply driving to Jaipur or taking a flight from Delhi airport,” she said.

Dependency on cabs

While public transport options are expanding, the network remains sparse and selective, leaving many passengers dependent on private vehicles and cabs.

Passengers travelling from Delhi largely depend on private vehicles, taxis or app-based cabs. Depending on the point of origin, a cab to Jewar airport can cost roughly ₹1,200 to ₹3,500.

The airport authorities said Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation buses currently connect the airport with Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Agra, Mathura, Vrindavan, Meerut, Aligarh, Bulandshahr, Farrukhabad, Firozabad, Garhmukteshwar, Hathras, Khurja, Moradabad and Shikohabad.

Haryana Roadways operates services to Faridabad and Palwal, while the Atal Seva AC electric bus links the airport with the UPSRTC Sector 35 (Morna) bus depot and Noida City Centre. Passengers can also book intercity buses through the airport’s partnership with redBus, an airport official said.

“QR codes across the terminal provide passengers with quick access to bus routes and schedules. Discussions are also under way with the Delhi Transport Corporation for direct services from key locations in Delhi, including major railway stations and ISBTs. No timeline has been fixed yet,” the official added.

The connectivity challenge extends beyond passengers. It is also reshaping where the airport’s workforce chooses to live. Two employees who previously lived in south and central Delhi said they moved to Greater Noida after joining the airport to escape long daily commutes. The shift, however, came at a high personal cost.

“The travel had become exhausting, so I eventually rented a flat in Noida. Earlier, I was living with my family, but now I am paying ₹25,000 for a 1 BHK. So while the daily commute has become easier, the cost burden has increased,” said one employee.

The other employee said he was now paying almost twice the rent he had paid at his previous home. “The commute has been taken care of, but my rent has increased significantly. And now my wife also has to travel a longer distance to get to work,” he said.

For employees in Noida and Greater Noida, the airport offers pick-up and drop-off shuttle services across both cities for all shifts, with routes and timings aligned with working hours. On-campus accommodation is also available for bachelor Central Industrial Security Force personnel, supporting the airport’s round-the-clock security operations.

Closer to home

Residents of Greater Noida are already seeing the advantages of having an airport nearby.

Mukul Rustagi, travelling to Hyderabad with his family, said the airport had substantially reduced his travel time.

“It takes just about 40 minutes from Greater Noida. There is no rush and the road infrastructure is excellent,” he said.

A journey from Greater Noida to Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, he said, could take more than two hours and stretch beyond three hours during rain, bad weather or VIP movements.

Mr. Rustagi believes the airport is already changing the economic landscape. His family bought property in Greater Noida in 2018, and he said its value had more than tripled since then.

The changes are visible on the approach to Jewar. Around 3 km from the airport, a 500-acre industrial township is being developed with proposed Japanese manufacturing, clean energy, data centre and semiconductor clusters, according to the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA). The International Film City is around 4 km away, while industrial, logistics, residential and commercial projects are coming up across the surrounding area.

The airport’s masterplan envisages a much larger multimodal transport hub, eventually integrating road, metro, RRTS and high-speed rail networks, according to the airport’s masterplan.

For now, Jewar has taken off. The city around it is still catching up.