Jewar vs Delhi Airport: Calculations Show Why Jewar Airport Remains Expensive Than Delhi | N18G

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]Well, there has been a debate for a while now on whether the Noida International Airport is actually cheaper than Delhi. Airlines have been arguing and we've been reporting on that that Jewar Airport is costlier despite the 1% VAT in UP as compared to 25% in Delhi. Now that the Airport Tariff Regulator AERA has released the final tariff order on Noida, let's go through the numbers and settle this once and for all. Noida International Airport has been positioned as a cheaper, less congested alternative to Delhi for airlines and passengers alike. But is that actually true? When you look at beyond the headline fuel savings and dig into landing charges and passenger fees, the economics get complicated very quickly. Let's start with where Jewar does have a genuine advantage and that is fuel. ATF in Uttar Pradesh costs around 84,000 per ton. In Delhi, it is closer to 105,000 rupees per ton. For a typical Airbus A321 burning roughly four tons on a Delhi to Mumbai type sector, that's a fuel saving of around 83,000 per flight. So far, so good for Jewar.

[00:01:02]But this is where the story turns. Look at the landing charges and the picture flips completely. Delhi charges 347 per metric ton for domestic landings. Jewar charges 725, more than double. For a 97-ton Airbus A321, that means a landing charge of around 33,600 at Delhi versus 70,300 rupees at Jewar. Parking charges also tell a similar story. At Delhi, airlines pay 18 rupees per metric ton for remote For a 97-ton A321, that works out to 1,746 per hour for a narrow-body plane.

[00:01:37]At Jewar, the charge is 25 rupees per metric ton or 2,425 rupees per hour for the same aircraft. That's roughly 40% more expensive. But since fuel is so cheaper from a cost perspective, Jewar remains the winner. Let's come to the revenue part now. The real pressure point is the user development fee, the charge that passengers pay at the airport. At Delhi, the domestic departure UDF is 129 per passenger. At Jewar, it is 490 rupees. That's 361 more per passenger. Now, multiply that across the 180 passengers on a A321 and you're looking at nearly 65,000 rupees in additional revenue hit per flight for airlines.

[00:02:19]Put those two numbers side by side. Fuel savings at Jewar, roughly 46,000 per flight. UDF revenue hit at Jewar, roughly 65,000 per flight. The revenue pressure from higher passenger charges outweighs the fuel savings. That in a nutshell is why airlines are worried. If airlines operate from both Delhi and Jewar simultaneously, fares on similar routes will broadly track each other.

[00:02:43]Passengers won't pay significantly more just because the flight departs from Jewar. Plus, Delhi has a stronger connectivity advantage, a larger catchment area, and far bet- better accessibility today as compared to Jewar. That means airlines may struggle to fill Jewar flights at the same yield as Delhi airport, reducing their ability to charge premium fares. So, the profitability gap between the two airports could be wider than cost.

[00:03:09]Here's the simplest way to frame this battle between Delhi and Jewar. Fuel economics favor Jewar, but yield economics favor Delhi. Jewar may be cheaper to operate from, but airlines fear it could ultimately be less profitable and commercially unattractive. And in aviation, it's margin that matters, not just cost.