News / NIA provides alternative gateway to congested Delhi for Indian air cargo

Indian air cargo stakeholders faced with a capacity crunch out of Delhi Airport now have an alternative gateway in the region, as trade volumes rapidly grow.

Noida International Airport (NIA), close to the capital city, handled its first cargo flight this week after the development was awarded to Zurich Airport.

AISATS, a joint-venture between Tata-owned Air India and Singapore-based gateway service provider SATS, holds 20-year concession rights for cargo handling. The debut service, from Chennai, was operated by home-grown cargo airline Afcom Holdings, which had set up a strategic partnership with Afcom for a head start to cargo operations at NIA.

Having ventured into the cargo airline market in 2022, Afcom operates a fleet of three 737 freighters, data shows.

The Noida cargo terminal has multiple strategic tailwinds: close geographic proximity to the country’s eastern and western dedicated freight corridors; and access to a vast hinterland belt, sources believe.

“NIA is far more than an aviation asset — it’s a strategic logistics inflection point for North India,” said Shailendra Bhatia, nodal officer at the airport. “It is being purposefully developed as an integrated ‘aerotropolis’,” he added.

According to him, the new cargo terminal has the potential to capture a significant portion of northern region trade moving via Delhi.

Additionally, the terminal features an 87-acre multimodal cargo hub (MMCH), able to handle an estimated 255,000 million tons of cargo a year in phase 1, scalable to 1.8m tons.  MMCH is also backed by a 57-acre integrated warehouse and logistics zone.

NIA’s cargo handling capacity is estimated at 2m tons in the initial phase, going up to 8m tons a year in stages.  The long-term growth outlook for NIA is bullish as northern India has a large catchment area, sources believe.

The launch of cargo operations at NIA is expected to decongest the saturated Delhi Air Cargo terminal, according to Mr Bhatia.

“NIA unlocks significant export potential for western Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana and northern Rajasthan,” he said.

Northern India exporters have expressed frustration at growing airline capacity constraints and cargo congestion at Delhi, compounded by an influx of Bangladesh apparel transhipment cargo facilitated through bilateral arrangements – subsequently revoked in April 2025.

Other logistics industry participants were equally upbeat about the new air cargo gateway.

“The development of world-class air cargo infrastructure in North India is expected to strengthen the region’s position as a key trade and logistics hub by improving connectivity between major manufacturing and consumption centres,” Jitendra Srivastava, CEO of Mumbai-based Triton Logistics & Maritime (Abrao Group), told The Loadstar.

“Enhanced access to markets across SAARC, the Middle East and Asia will create new opportunities for exporters, particularly in sectors that rely on speed, reliability and global market access,” he added.

Echoing that, Vineet Malhotra, co-founder and director at Mumbai-based Kale Logistics Solutions, said NIA, also known as Jewar Airport, would help transform the northern region’s position into a key logistics and aviation hub.

Despite widespread supply chain disruption caused by the Middle East war, Indian air cargo trade continued to record strong growth in April — a 40% jump in international movement and a 10% overall gain, year on year, according to new data.

Meanwhile, Adani Group-operated Navi Mumbai International Airport, which opened to domestic passenger airline operations in late 2025, is poised to start a freighter service on 15 July, another boost for Indian air freight.