India’s enormous new airport is open — now it just needs planes | CNN

One of India’s most ambitious aviation projects, touted to be among the largest in South Asia, has been inaugurated more than four years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially kicked off the project. “I am happy that I had the privilege of laying the foundation stone of this airport and also inaugurating it,” Modi said in a ceremony held at the airport on March 28. The announcement provides much-needed PR for India’s struggling aviation industry, especially as the world copes with the fuel shortage amid the US and Israel’s war with Iran, which has blocked many ships carrying oil out of the Middle East. Noida International Airport, call sign DXN, is located in Delhi’s National Capital Region. The surrounding state of Uttar Pradesh is now India’s first to have five international airports. It’s the most significant step for Indian aviation since Navi Mumbai International Airport’s debut in October, serving the country’s financial capital. The world’s most populous country — and the third largest aviation market — is on a major infrastructure building kick. But Noida International won’t be able to do everything right away. Flights are not due to begin