Noida International Airport Handles First Cargo Flight, Marking Start of India’s Newest Aviation Hub

Noida International Airport (NIA) has made a significant leap towards playing a major role as a logistics centrifugal for northern India by taking its maiden domestic cargo flight during the opening of the nation’s all-new airport. The airport officially opened its gates to passengers for the first time on June 15, and will provide another hub for cargo expansion and be a vital link in the evolving air cargo infrastructure in the National Capital Region (NCR) and for Western Uttar Pradesh.

In this Boeing 737-800F aircraft operated by Afcom Holdings, which was about to land in the airport’s cargo bay with a ‘water cannon’ salute, the cargo included a mix of 20 tonnes of mixed goods, mobile phones and auto components. AISATS Multi Modal Cargo Hub (MMCH) at NIA has successfully started its integrated cargo terminal, conducting the first operation of domestic cargo carrying from the top to the middle floor of the terminal, which constitutes a full cargo operation at the terminal.

“The commencement of a new era in the cargo and logistics transport in India”, said Ramanathan Rajamani, chief executive officer of AISATS of the both for the first flight of the freighter. The cargo hub has an integrated cargo terminal of 30 acres and integrated warehousing and logistics zone (IWLZ) of 57 acres spread over 87 acres of land, which would see cargo handling, warehousing, trucks and digital cargo management solution in one ecosystem, said AISATS COO, Salim Chaudhary to Moneycontrol.

The level of skill set for manufacturing, electronics industry and agriculture are weak in the area which needs adequate connections with the airport for carrying goods etc, said Noida International Airport Vice Chairman Christoph Schnellmann. At YEIDA, the time taken to move the exporters from the manufacturing floor to the aircraft hold takes less than 30 minutes but other sectors in the surrounding area can do that as well, NIA Nodal Officer Shailendra Kumar Bhatia added. Each of the existing plans involve the interconnection with the trunk lines which connect Delhi with Howrah and Delhi with Mumbai, and this will be the hub of intermodal operations. The progress made by India towards developing cargo facilities at airports outside metros has been witnessed by Aviation Week and The Hindu had taken an in-depth look at NIA’s role as a safety valve of IGI airport with over 70% of India’s cargo. The PTI has published the story of cargo operations as their first publication on the 17th June 2026.