Hindon Airport , also spelled Hindan Airport, is a

civil enclave A joint-use airport is an aerodrome that is used for both military aviation and civil aviation. They typically contain facilities of both a civil airport and a military air base. By country United States The United States has several joint-use ...

Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh Ghaziabad () is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and a part of Delhi NCR. It is the administrative headquarters of Ghaziabad district and is the largest city in western Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 1,729,000. Ghaziabad Mu ...

, operated by the Airports Authority of India at

Hindon Air Force Station Air Force Station Hindon (Hindon AFS) (also Hindon) is an Indian Air Force base under the Western Air Command (WAC). It is the biggest and largest air base in Asia. Its area measured 14 km rounded and . This base celebrates Air Force Day ...

of the Indian Air Force. It is the second commercial airport in the

Delhi NCR The National Capital Region (NCR) is a planning region centred upon the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi in India. It encompasses Delhi and several districts surrounding it from the states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The N ...

after

Indira Gandhi International Airport Indira Gandhi International Airport is the primary international airport serving Delhi, the capital of India, and the National Capital Region (NCR). The airport, spread over an area of , is situated in Palam, Delhi, southwest of the New ...

The airport was primarily built to handle flights operating under the Government's regional connectivity scheme and hence reducing the burden of regional flights from Delhi's main airport. As of 2019, there are two airlines operating regional flights from the airport.

History

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi inaugurating the Hindon Airport Civil Terminal

In 2017, the Ministry of Civil Aviation pre-emptively took up the idea of a

at Hindon with the IAF because slot constraints at the

prevented the operation of flights under the government's Regional Connectivity Scheme called

UDAN ''Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik'' ( Hindi for "Let the common citizens of the country fly"), known by its acronym ''UDAN'' ( Hindi for "flight") is a regional airport development program of the Government of India and part of the Regional Connect ...

. The Hindon civil enclave would then become the second airport in the

National Capital Region A capital region, also called a capital district or capital territory, is a region or district surrounding a capital city. It is not always the official term for the region, but may sometimes be used as an informal synonym. Capital regions can exis ...

for flights operating under UDAN. Commercial flight operations from an airport within 150 km of Delhi Airport were not allowed, according to an agreement signed between the government and Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL). Hence, the MoCA made a proposal, seeking clearance from DIAL for the temporary use of Hindon for flights awarded UDAN flights. DIAL approved the proposal in September 2017. When DIAL's on-going expansion of Delhi Airport is completed around September 2022, all UDAN operations would revert to Delhi Airport. The Indian Air Force permitted the Civil Aviation ministry to use the air base for civil operations in August 2017. The Uttar Pradesh government gave its approval for the project in March 2018. AAI began construction of the terminal in August 2018. Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament fro ...

inaugurated the passenger terminal built at a cost of 40 crores on 8 March 2019 just before model code of conduct. The operations from Hindon were expected to begin from 15 March. However, discussions on slot timings with the Indian Air Force regarding slots took longer than expected and the date for commencement of flight operations was pushed back to the first half of October 2019. The first commercial flight from the Hindon took off on 11 October 2019. A Beechcraft King Air, operated by Heritage Aviation under the UDAN scheme, took off for

Pithoragarh Airport Pithoragarh Airport, also known as Naini Saini Airport, is in Pithoragarh, Kumaon, Uttarakhand, India. The airport was constructed in 1991 for administrative use and planned for the operations of Dornier 228 type aircraft. The State Government p ...

with nine passengers on board. In May 2019, it was reported that the state government and AAI were considering making the airport permanent.

Structure

The enclave has been built on 7.5 acres at Sikandarpur village in Sahibabad, adjacent the airbase. The terminal building is a pre-engineered, air-conditioned structure with eight check-in counters. The terminal covers an area of 5,425 square metres and has a capacity of serving 300 passengers an hour. The car park can accommodate 90 cars. Air traffic control will be provided by the Indian Air Force. The terminal has been developed by AAI while the Uttar Pradesh government has built the connecting roads and provides electricity for the project.

Airlines and destinations

Access

The closest metro stations are Dilshad Garden and Major Mohit Sharma Rajendra Nagar Metro Station ed Line 5 km away from Hindon Airport. Gokulpuri Metro Station situated at the Pink Line of the Delhi Metro is also close to the airport.

References

{{Greater Delhi transit Indian Air Force bases Airports in Uttar Pradesh 2017 establishments in Uttar Pradesh Airports established in 2017