New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh cabinet on Friday (October 9) approved a proposal to rename the Noida International Airport at Jewar as Narendra Modi International Airport, with chief minister Adityanath describing the airport as a “major gift” from the prime minister to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled state.“The Uttar Pradesh Council of Ministers is grateful to the respected prime minister, Shri Narendra Modi, for gifting Uttar Pradesh with the Noida International Airport, Jewar,” Adityanath said after the cabinet meeting in Lucknow, according to Press Trust of India.“Therefore, the Council of Ministers has also passed a resolution to rename Noida International Airport as ‘Narendra Modi International Airport’.”According to The Indian Express, Adityanath said the decision was intended to mark Modi completing 25 years as the head of a government and recognise his contribution to Uttar Pradesh’s development. Modi completed the milestone on October 7, having first become chief minister of Gujarat in 2001.The Uttar Pradesh chief minister said the airport would strengthen the state’s economy, industry, tourism and international connectivity.“In the coming years, this airport will take the state’s economy, industry, tourism and global connectivity to new heights,” he said.Adityanath also referred to Modi’s political association with Uttar Pradesh, where he has represented Varanasi in the Lok Sabha since 2014. Recalling the prime minister’s remark that “Mother Ganga has called me” when he arrived in Varanasi during the 2014 election campaign, the chief minister said their relationship had extended beyond political representation to encompass the city’s development and spiritual revival.The airport, located in Jewar in Gautam Buddha Nagar district, was inaugurated by Modi on March 28, 2026, and commercial flight operations began on June 15. The greenfield project is being developed through a public-private partnership involving Yamuna International Airport Private Limited, a subsidiary of Zurich Airport International AG, and the Uttar Pradesh government.The airport is intended to serve as a second major commercial aviation hub for the National Capital Region (NCR), alongside Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. Its first phase has an annual passenger-handling capacity of 12 million, with expansion plans envisaging capacity for up to 70 million passengers a year by 2050.