Several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and social media users have shared the photograph of an airport claiming that the new Noida International Airport would look like this once completed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the airport at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, 25 November.
However, we found that the design is of the Beijing Daxing International Airport, China which is designed by Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid.
CLAIM
The photo was shared by former BJP Member of Parliament (MP) Kanwar Singh Tanwar on Facebook along with the claim in Hindi that reads, "‘नोएडा इंटरनेशनल एयरपोर्ट’ के शिलान्यास के साथ पश्चिम उत्तर प्रदेश ने आज विकास की एक नई उड़ान भरी है। मैं इस अवसर पर देश के यशस्वी मा• प्रधानमंत्री श्री Narendra Modi जी का हार्दिक आभार व्यक्त करता हूं एवं जनता-जनार्दन को बहुत-बहुत बधाई देता हूं। #नए_यूपी_की_उड़ान."
[Translation: Western Uttar Pradesh has taken a new flight to development with the stone-laying foundation of the 'Noida International Airport'. On this occasion, I express my heartfelt gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and congratulate citizens.]
A 1:58 minute video of the airport which carries the same photo (from 0:01-0:05 seconds) is being shared by several BJP leaders including the office of union minister Anurag Thakur (here), minister of state for education Annapurna Devi (here), union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal (here), and Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh (here).
Social media users have shared the same photo along with similar claims and the archived links can be seen here and here.
WHAT WE FOUND
We conducted a reverse image search on the photo and found it on de zeen, a London-based architecture magazine, published in 2015.
The caption read, "Zaha Hadid unveils designs for "world's largest airport passenger terminal" in Beijing."
The Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX), also known as Beijing New Airport, is touted as the world’s largest airport by surface area. The construction started in 2015 and its operations commenced in September 2019.
We also found the similar looking photo of the airport on Getty Images.
Next, we also looked for the images of the Beijing Daxing airport on Google Earth, and found the structure looked similar to the viral photo.
DESIGN OF NOIDA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
The Noida international airport's official Twitter handle on 24 November shared a graphical design of the airport and it doesn't resemble the picture shared on social media.
You can watch the video here.
The Quint's WebQoof team also debunked another false claim where a photo of the Incheon international airport in South Korea was wrongly shared as the Noida international airport in Jewar. You can read our fact-check here.
Clearly, a photo of the airport in China is being shared as the Noida international airport in Jewar.
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