Noida International Airport will begin commercial flight operations from June 15, 2026. IndiGo will operate the first service from the Jewar facility. Akasa Air and Air India Express will follow shortly after. The airport operator confirmed this in an official statement. The announcement has renewed attention on property markets along the Yamuna Expressway. Prices there have already tripled over the past five years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally inaugurated the airport on March 28, 2026. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security then approved the Aerodrome Security Programme. This approval confirmed that the facility’s security framework meets all regulatory requirements. The Uttar Pradesh government developed the airport in partnership with Zurich Airport International AG. The total cost of the project is ₹11,200 crore. Commercial operations will begin with domestic flights. International services will follow once operations stabilize.

The facility has a 3,900-metre runway. It can handle wide-body aircraft. The passenger terminal has an initial annual capacity of 12 million. The cargo hub can handle 2.5 lakh metric tones. In its final phase, the airport will handle up to 225 million passengers every year. This will make it one of the largest aviation hubs in Asia.

Property prices have already responded sharply

Proptech platform Square Yards published a report titled “Runway to Realty: How Noida International Airport is Reshaping Realty.” The report shows clear data. Apartment prices along the Yamuna Expressway corridor rose from around ₹3,200 per sq ft in 2020 to around ₹9,600 per sq ft in 2025. That is nearly a three-fold increase. Plot values rose by an average of 1.5 times over the same period. Some micro-markets recorded growth as high as five times.

Greater Noida saw property prices rise 98 percent between Q1 2020 and Q1 2025. Noida registered a 92 percent increase over the same period. The growth did not stop there. The report projects a further rise of 28 percent in plot values and 22 percent in apartment prices over the next two years. Better infrastructure, job creation, and improving liveability are driving this trend.

“Before construction accelerated on the Jewar airport project, Noida’s real estate market lagged behind other NCR markets,” said Sunita Mishra, Vice-President — Research and Insights at Square Yards. “However, with visible progress on the airport and supporting infrastructure, there has been a clear shift in market perception. Developers are actively launching projects, particularly in high-impact zones, to capitalise on this growing opportunity.”

A structural shift, not speculative momentum

The nature of demand along the Yamuna Expressway is changing. Earlier, the market was driven mostly by investors. Now, end-users, logistics operators, and institutional investors are also entering actively. Industry observers see this as a positive structural shift.

The Noida real estate market is currently at a pivotal moment, said Tanuj Shori, Founder and CEO of Square Yards. “The airport is driving the development of a world-class aerotropolis. It will have significant long-term effects on housing demand, pricing, and investment activity. It demonstrates how strategic infrastructure can reshape regional identity and unlock sustained economic growth.”

The airport launch will also create jobs across aviation, logistics, hospitality, and real estate. This will give the residential market a strong economic base. Moreover, YEIDA has already recorded over 700 lease deed executions. It has also added 54 new industrial plots in the last year alone. These numbers show real movement beyond residential demand.

Experts urge buyers to assess ground reality

However, not all experts are equally optimistic about near-term returns. Ravi Nirwal, Sales Director and Principal Partner at Square Yards, offered a measured view. He noted that approximately 60 percent of current buyers along the Yamuna Expressway are investors. The remaining 40 percent are long-term end-users. New projects today take four to five years for possession, Nirwal said, speaking to Zee Business. Only then will end-users benefit from fully developed infrastructure. He added a clear caution. “If you plan to park capital for ten to fifteen years, the Yamuna Expressway could work. But if you are buying on a home loan for habitation, the current hype can be misleading. Ground reality and infrastructure timelines should guide decisions. The airport will focus on domestic connectivity in its first phase. Detailed flight schedules and destination lists will be announced in the coming weeks.