NEW DELHI: Noida International Airport on Monday began commercial flight operations, marking a major milestone for the greenfield aviation project in Jewar.An IndiGo flight from Lucknow’s Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport became the first commercial flight to land at the airport. Flight 6E-2278 touched down in the morning and was welcomed with a traditional water cannon salute. The same aircraft was scheduled to depart for Bengaluru at 8.35 am and land at 11.05 am.In a symbolic gesture, around 170 farmers from the Jewar region, including 20 women, who had voluntarily given up their ancestral land for the airport project, were among the passengers on the inaugural flight to Lucknow. The group is also expected to meet Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.Union Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu interacted with passengers during the event and distributed commemorative boarding passes.“We want to see Noida International Airport grow not only as a transit hub or a transportation hub, but as an aerotropolis. We want multiple industries to come up around this area and create a strong economic base that caters not only to the country but also internationally,” Naidu said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the airport on March 28. Located in Jewar, the airport has been developed to ease passenger traffic at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport while emerging as a major aviation and cargo hub for northern India.