Centre gives nod to airport project in Greater Noida

SMOOTH TAKEOFF?: A new airport will go a long way in ensuring a smooth takeoff for the harried flier.

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Keywords: Aviation Sector, Government

New Delhi: Congestion, delays, near misses by aircraft at the Delhi airport — reason enough for the Central Government to give the nod to a new international airport in Greater Noida.

The airport will be located at Jevar, in Gautam Budh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh and the 1,500 hectare airport will cost Rs 4,000 crore and could be ready by 2010.

The proposed airport is to be called The Taj International Airport Hub (TIAH) and is over 60 km from the nearest point of New Delhi and about 120 km from Agra.

Yet, TIAH is being positioned to serve as Delhi's second airport.

The airport will handle 40 lakh passengers in four years time, but that's just one-fifth of New Delhi airport's current traffic and aviation analysts feel its just not enough for commercial viability.

CEO Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, Kapil Kaul says, "You can justify an airport only if the current airport is saturated, which is not the case for the current airport still has 70 per cent development possibility. In future maybe yes, but in the current scenario, there is no need for two airports."

But the real estate market does not need a reason to move north. Land prices in little known Jevar village are touching Rs 80 lakh a hectare.

Director Kargil Realtors Pvt Ltd, Lt Col J S Bal says, "There are so many queries which were not there earlier. We are getting so many calls from all over — Australia, US — for land in Greater Noida."

Indian airports are expected to handle 100 million passengers by 2020 and cargo in the range of 3.4 million tones per annum, of which half will pass through Delhi.

So in the long run, a new airport will go a long way in ensuring a smooth takeoff for the harried flier.