Noida airport begins commercial operations, IndiGo flight lands from Lucknow
IndiGo Airbus A320neo (VT-IOM) receives a traditional water cannon salute as it becomes the first commercial flight to land at Noida International Airport (Jewar) on June 15, 2026.
New Delhi: India’s newest civilian airport at Noida’s Jewar began its commercial operations on Monday, with low-fare airline, IndiGo, landing a flight from Uttar Pradesh’s capital, Lucknow. The prime minister, Narendra Modi, had inaugurated the Noida International Airport on March 28. IndiGo’s flight 6E-2278 arrived at the Jewar airport, the first air service at the newly opened civil aviation facility. The IndiGo flight was a historical first, as the Noida International Airport became the second such facility in the National Capital Region (NCR).
The IndiGo flight had taken off from the Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow earlier in the day. IndiGo will also operate a return flight, 6E-2279, from Jewar to Lucknow on Monday evening. As the IndiGo flight landed in Jewar, passengers clapped in excitement, even as the airport welcomed the first commercial aircraft landing with a water cannon salute, as is the tradition in civil aviation.
Till now, passengers between Delhi NCR and Lucknow used the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi’s southwest to fly to Uttar Pradesh’s capital city. The Jewar airport now provides an alternative route for the Delhi NCR residents wanting to fly to and from Lucknow.
Apart from IndiGo, another private airline, Akasa Air, will also launch a daily flight between Noida airport and Bengaluru and Navi Mumbai airports from Tuesday. With those flight services, Akasa Air would become the second operator from the Jewar-based Noida International Airport. The first commercial cargo service from the Jewar airport would start from Wednesday, the Noida International Airport has previously announced. The commercial service would be on a domestic route initially.
The Jewar airport’s commercial operations are a key development in the Uttar Pradesh government’s effort to boost the aviation sector in the state and provide connectivity between Lucknow and other parts of the state, enabling faster travel for governance, business, and leisure. The Jewar airport came up under a public-private partnership programme under the Yamuna International Airport Private Limited, a subsidiary of the Zurich Airport International AG.
The Jewar airport has a 3,900-metre runway to operate wide-body aircraft and is equipped with modern navigation aids such as Instrument Landing Systems and an advanced airfield lighting system. The airport has already come under a multi-layered security blanket, which includes artificial intelligence-based surveillance, apart from 1,030 personnel from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and a police station.
