Noida International Airport was positioned as a more affordable alternative to Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. Early ticket data suggests the opposite may be true, with flights from Jewar priced higher than comparable routes from IGI on several key sectors, including Mumbai, Kolkata, and Lucknow.
The primary driver is the User Development Fee. Jewar’s UDF stands at around Rs 653 per passenger against Delhi’s Rs 129, a difference of over 400%. Landing fees and parking charges are also significantly higher, costs that airlines, including IndiGo and Air India, have already flagged with regulator AERA.
The pricing gap is somewhat structural. As a greenfield airport built with substantial capital investment, Jewar must recover costs early and without the benefit of the passenger volumes that allow IGI to price more competitively. The risk, however, is a self-reinforcing cycle: higher fares dampen demand, slower growth delays cost recovery, and the airport’s viability as a genuine alternative suffers.
Jewar MLA Dhirendra Singh has urged the aviation ministry and Uttar Pradesh administration to intervene, arguing that without competitive pricing, passenger confidence will erode before the airport finds its footing. Uttar Pradesh already offers one of the lowest ATF tax rates in the country at 1%, but that advantage is currently being absorbed by higher aeronautical charges rather than passed on to travellers.
