Noida International Airport (DXN), located in Jewar, Gautam Buddha Nagar district, Uttar Pradesh, opened for commercial operations on 15 June 2026. IndiGo (6E) operated the inaugural flight, a service from Lucknow Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport (LKO) that landed at DXN in the morning before continuing to Kempegowda International Airport (BLR) in Bengaluru.
Phase 1 of the airport comprises a single 3,900-metre CAT III-B runway and a terminal building of 101,590 square metres, with an annual passenger capacity of 12 million. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first phase on 28 March 2026, though commercial operations began nearly three months later following the completion of regulatory clearances from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). The airport’s long-term buildout envisions four phases of expansion, reaching a capacity of 70 million passengers per annum by FY40.
IndiGo’s Inaugural Routes and Day-One Schedule At DXN
IndiGo became the launch carrier at DXN, operating flights 6E 2278 and 6E 2279 on a triangular circuit — Lucknow → Noida → Bengaluru → Noida → Lucknow — on opening day, Aviation Week reported. This routing linked a key Tier-II administrative capital (Lucknow) with a major tech-sector hub (Bengaluru) through the new NCR gateway.
Flights to Amritsar Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport (ATQ) and Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (HYD) also began on 15 June. Services to Bengaluru and Jammu Airport (IXJ) followed on 16 June 2026. IndiGo announced its DXN schedule on 7 May 2026 and opened bookings on the same day across its website, app, and OTA distribution partners.
The published departure timings for routes operating from Day 1 are:
- Noida–Amritsar: Arrival 10:10 AM, departure 11:25 AM
- Noida–Bengaluru: Departure 2:45 PM, arrival 5:30 PM
- Noida–Hyderabad: Arrival 2:50 PM, departure 4:50 PM
IndiGo’s July 2026 Expansion To 16+ Destinations
Starting 1 July 2026, IndiGo significantly expanded its DXN network, adding twelve new cities and taking the total to over 16 domestic destinations. The expansion targets regional tourist circuits, hill stations, and Tier-II business centres that passengers in western Uttar Pradesh could not previously access without traversing Delhi.
The full list of destinations added from 1 July includes:
- Navi Mumbai (NMIA)
- Srinagar (SXR)
- Jodhpur (JDH) — Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday at 2:40 PM
- Dharamshala (DHM) — 9:55 AM
- Bhopal Raja Bhoj Airport (BHO)
- Dehradun Jolly Grant Airport (DED) — 7:10 PM
- Bareilly (BEK) — selected days
- Kishangarh (KQH) — Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 10:30 AM
- Lucknow (LKO)
- Jaipur International Airport (JAI) — 6:20 AM and 3:45 PM
- Pantnagar Airport (PGH)
- Chandigarh International Airport (IXC) — 6:10 AM, with an additional service from 13 July at 9:55 AM
Representative fares quoted by Times Bull at launch include Amritsar at ₹3,390, Mumbai at ₹5,207, Bengaluru at ₹9,327–₹9,606, Hyderabad at ₹6,444, and Srinagar at ₹13,113. These fares reflect IndiGo’s base pricing and do not include the airport’s User Development Fee (UDF), which is discussed in a separate section below.
Akasa Air Joins DXN On Day Two with Bengaluru and Navi Mumbai
Akasa Air (QP) commenced operations from DXN on 16 June 2026, one day after IndiGo’s inaugural service. The airline launched two routes: Bengaluru (BLR) and Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMI). The first Akasa service on this route, flight QP 2017, departed Navi Mumbai International Airport at 0725 hrs and arrived at DXN at 0935 hrs.
The Bengaluru rotation operates as flight QP 1575 from BLR to DXN and QP 1576 from DXN to BLR. From 1 July 2026, Akasa Air added Srinagar, Jodhpur, Bhopal, and Dehradun to its DXN network.
Akasa Air’s entry at DXN carries a strategic dimension beyond route announcements. The airline signed an MRO partnership with Noida International Airport in March 2026, making it the first in-airport MRO base at any Indian airport. This signals a long-term operational commitment from the carrier at the Jewar hub. Akasa Air previously stated it operated 188 weekly flights from the NCR region; DXN adds a third NCR point alongside its IGI and Hindon operations.
DXN’s Infrastructure and Phase 1 Facilities
Phase 1 of Noida International Airport covers 1,334 hectares and includes a 101,590-square-metre terminal building with 28 apron stands. Key infrastructure specifications confirmed at launch include:
- Runway: Single 3,900-metre CAT III-B runway, capable of handling wide-body aircraft
- Terminal capacity: 12 million passengers per annum in Phase 1
- Cargo hub: Operated by AISATS across an 87-acre multi-modal facility, with Phase 1 capacity of 250,000 metric tonnes annually, scalable to 1.8 million metric tonnes
- MRO: Akasa Air’s maintenance, repair and overhaul base — the first in-airport MRO at any Indian airport
- Ground handling: Bird Group committed to all-electric ground service equipment under its handling agreement, signed April 2024
- Power supply: Tata Power supplies wind and solar energy under agreements announced November 2024
The terminal received security clearance from BCAS before commercial operations began. In February 2023, the airport selected Air India SATS (AISATS) to develop the cargo hub, positioning DXN as a logistics gateway alongside its passenger function.
The airport’s buildout plans beyond Phase 1 include three additional phases, with total projected capacity of 70 million passengers by FY40 across six runways. Total project cost across all four phases is estimated at ₹29,561 crore.
