Few aviation projects in India have attracted as much attention as the Noida International Airport at Jewar. The airport has often been described by officials, ministers, and sections of the media as “Asia’s largest airport.” The claim has circulated since 2021 and continues to be repeated, even though multiple fact-checks have shown that it does not stand up to scrutiny.
About the project
The Noida International Airport (DXN) is a greenfield airport being developed at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh by Yamuna International Airport Private Limited, a subsidiary of Zurich Airport International AG under a PPP model in close partnership with the state and central governments.. The development is planned in four phases, with the fourth phase stretching to 2040s.
According to the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), the project spans approximately around 2,900 hectares with six runways proposed under its full master plan and two runways in the initial phase. YEIDA states that it has identified 5,100 hectares for the project. The phase one of the project has a planned area of 1334 hectares.
The airport is designed for a capacity of 12 million passengers per annum (mppa) at launch, eventually scaling up to 70 mppa in later phases.
Noida International Airport is frequently referred as the “Asia’s largest airport” in media coverage, a tag that has now seems to have become a standard boilerplate copy.
Land Area: How Noida Compares to Asia’s Giants
Even after future phases, when the airport site expands to 2,900 hectares or even 5,100 hectares, it will still be smaller than several existing and planned Asian airports.
The King Fahd International Airport (DMM) in Saudi Arabia tops the list by a wide margin. Spanning an extraordinary 77,600 hectares (776 km²), it has long held the Guinness World Record as the world’s largest airport property. However, the actual developed area is significantly smaller with some unofficial sources estimating it at 3,675 ha.
Next comes Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL), which covers ≈ 10,000 hectares. This includes not only the airfield but also the surrounding logistics, business, and support zones that form part of the KLIA Aeropolis concept.
Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC), Dubai’s future hub is in the making, stands at ≈ 7,000 hectares. The project envisions an airport that will become the world’s largest hub in terms of capacity. Phase two of the project is currently underway.
Passenger capacity: ambitious, but not record-breaking
When fully developed, DXN is projected to handle up to 70 million passengers per year, according to the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA).
By comparison, Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) is planned for an ultimate capacity of around 260 million passengers per annum, making it the world’s largest in passenger terms once complete.
Within India, Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) will increase its annual capacity from 105 million to 125 million passengers by 2029-30.
At 70 million passengers annually by 2040-50, Noida would rank below several 100 million plus airports in Asia.
Repeated fact-checks in the past
The “Asia’s largest airport” line has circulated since 2021, when the then Civil Aviation Minister used the phrase during the foundation-stone ceremony at Jewar. Numerous media outlets repeated it without verification.
At least three fact-checks since then, including pieces by AFP Fact Check, Scroll, and Quint, have debunked the assertion, yet the line resurfaces with every construction milestone and is repeated in press releases, political speeches, and social-media posts.
Calling Noida both “Asia’s largest” and “the fourth largest in the world” is itself self-contradictory: if it were the largest in Asia, it would automatically surpass every other Asian airport, including Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd, which at 78,000 hectares is the largest in the world.
The reality
Noida International Airport will be a world-class hub, a major infrastructure milestone, and one of the largest greenfield airport projects ever undertaken in India.
But calling it “Asia’s largest”, by the metric of land area or passenger capacity, is factually incorrect.
Bigger Isn’t Always Better
The debate over which airport is “largest” often overlooks a key reality: vast land holdings don’t necessarily translate into operational scale or efficiency. For instance, both King Fahd International Airport (DMM) and Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL) occupy large areas of land as a legacy of their long-term masterplan, but much of it remains undeveloped. In contrast, airports like Singapore Changi generate far higher revenue and passenger throughput per square kilometer by making intensive use of limited space.
Ultimately, the success of an airport is measured less by the number of hectares it spans and more by how effectively that land supports passengers, aircraft movement, and non-aeronautical revenue. The true metric should not be who’s biggest, but who’s most efficient.
Read: Fact Check: Viral Video of Crowds Storming Tanzania Airport Is from 2021
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