look news india
A very shocking news is coming for the aviation sector and air traveling passengers. Akasa Air has temporarily suspended its much-awaited non-stop direct flight service between Noida International Airport (Jewar) and Navi Mumbai International Airport, just two weeks after its launch. Let us tell you that Akasa Air was the only airline to provide direct air connectivity between these two new greenfield airports.
The company started its daily non-stop flight ‘QP 2017’ on this special route on 16 June 2026. But due to very poor response from passengers and other challenges, this service could operate only till the end of June and was completely stopped from July 1.
Network optimization and severe shortage of passengers became the reason.
Akasa Air has cited several important reasons behind closing this route. According to the airline management, this tough decision has been taken keeping in mind the network optimization, low passenger load on both sides, bad weather and weak local transport connectivity to reach the airports.
However, Akasa Air has clarified that this ban is completely temporary. The airline plans to re-launch the Noida-Navi Mumbai direct flight from October 1, 2026 in view of the upcoming festive season. This step of Akasa Air is a direct indication that despite the development of new airports with world class facilities in India, ensuring adequate passenger numbers and logistics is still a big test for the airlines.
Bengaluru-Noida flight also closed, 2 extra flights started for Mumbai
Amidst this complete network change, Akasa Air has started two additional daily flights between the old Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (Mumbai) and Noida instead of Navi Mumbai, so that the passengers of Mumbai-Delhi route can be facilitated. Along with this, the airline has also completely stopped Bengaluru-Noida non-stop service from July 1.
Aviation experts believe that both the new airports of Noida and Navi Mumbai are currently facing huge problems of strong road and rail connectivity connecting to the city. To reach these new airports, passengers have to pay huge taxi fares. Also, at present there is a lack of dedicated metro and rapid rail connectivity. On top of this, due to high parking and landing fees (Airport Charges) of these airports, the number of passengers was much less than expected.
Concern was expressed to AERA regarding high fees
Various airlines have already expressed their serious concerns to the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) regarding the expensive fees and weak public transport system of Noida Airport. Meanwhile, while Akasa Air has cut down its routes, on the other hand, the country’s largest airline IndiGo has adopted an aggressive approach and started 31 new daily flights from Noida International Airport from July 1. With this, Indigo’s network from Noida has now reached 15 major cities of the country.
Let us tell you that when the historic start of commercial operations took place from Noida Airport on June 16, IndiGo and Akasa Air together were operating a total of 12 daily flights, which included 8 flights of IndiGo and 4 flights of Akasa. At present, due to closure of direct flights, passengers traveling between Noida and Navi Mumbai will have to resort to connecting flights or the old traditional airports of Delhi-Mumbai.