If your site is within 20 km of an airport, the height you may build to is set by the Airports Authority of India before the municipality looks at your plan. The AAI NOC for height clearance is applied for online through NOCAS, costs nothing to obtain, and per AAI is valid for eight years. The trap for contractors is the crane: a tower crane or a raised mobile crane boom that goes above the top elevation in the NOC needs its own permission from the airport operator, and AAI asks for that application at least 45 days before the crane reaches site.

A ten-storey job near Pune or Hyderabad airport can be held up by a number nobody on site chose: the permissible top elevation, in metres above mean sea level, that AAI writes into the building’s NOC. That number caps the building. It also caps every crane, piling rig and boom you put on the plot while you build it.

Who needs an AAI NOC for height clearance

The rule comes from the Ministry of Civil Aviation (Height Restrictions for Safeguarding of Aircraft Operations) Rules, 2015, notified as G.S.R. 751(E) on 30 September 2015 and amended since, in 2020 and 2023. Rule 4(1) says no structure shall be built or erected, and no tree planted, within a radius of up to 20 km from the Aerodrome Reference Point of the civil and defence aerodromes listed in the Rules, without a No Objection Certificate for height clearance.

“Structure” is defined widely. Rule 3 includes buildings, masts, towers, chimneys, poles and all other man-made structures. Rule 4(4) adds level roads and level railway lines within 1 km of the airport boundary wall.

There is one shortcut. In cities where AAI has issued a Colour Coded Zoning Map, rule 7(2) lets the municipal or town-planning authority approve a building directly against the heights in that map. The shortcut does not apply to sites in an airport’s approach, take-off and transitional areas, or anywhere else the map marks for a compulsory NOC. For those plots, the local body cannot approve the plan until the NOC is in hand.

How to apply through NOCAS

Applications go online through AAI’s No Objection Certificate Application System (NOCAS), under rule 5(4). Where the city’s building-permit portal has been linked to NOCAS, you apply through the local body’s common application form and AAI sends its answer to the local body.

The application turns on two survey figures, so get them right before you file. AAI’s circular ADSAC 02 of 2024 makes it mandatory to give the site coordinates in WGS-84 and the site elevation in metres above mean sea level. For a plot larger than 300 square metres, every corner is needed, plus the point nearest the airport. For 300 square metres or less, one coordinate of the nearest point is enough. The NOCAS FAQ warns that a submitted application cannot be edited, and incomplete ones are liable to be rejected.

Step AAI timeline (ADSAC 02 of 2024)
Check of uploaded documents 3 working days
Clearance by the online NOC committee 5 working days from a verified application
Issue of the NOC once all members agree 5 working days
City portal linked to NOCAS, no reply from AAI Deemed issued after 15 working days

On cost, the NOCAS FAQ is direct: there is no fee for applying for or obtaining a height NOC. The NOC is valid for eight years from issue, and one revalidation is allowed within that period if work has started and the delay was beyond your control. If AAI grants less height than you asked for, you can seek a review from the designated officer once, or appeal to the Appellate Committee set up by the Ministry of Civil Aviation under rule 11, for a fee of ₹2,00,000 plus GST.

Why the crane needs its own permission

This is the part most building NOCs do not settle. The Rules treat obstacles broadly: Schedule II covers all fixed, whether temporary or permanent, and mobile objects. A tower crane parked above a slab, or a mobile crane with its boom raised for a lift, is an obstacle for the time it stands there.

AAI handles cranes under a separate procedure, its Standard Operating Procedure for operating cranes near an aerodrome, issued as ADSAC 04 of 2021 on 3 March 2021. The main points for a contractor or crane hirer:

Situation What ADSAC 04 of 2021 says
Crane will go above the NOC’s top elevation Apply to the airport operator at least 45 days before the crane is due on site, giving its maximum operating height above mean sea level (boom, cab or cantilever, whichever is highest)
Crane stays below the permissible top elevation on all criteria May be permitted for one year, extendable twice by six months without fresh assessment
Above the aerodrome and navigation-aid limits but below the instrument-procedure limit May be permitted for six months, extendable twice by three months
Site in the approach or transition surface and the crane penetrates it Application not processed; construction has to be carried out without the crane
Above the instrument-procedure (PANS-OPS) limit Request denied

A granted permission comes with conditions: limits on operating hours, height and radius, restrictions in fog or low cloud, and steady red obstacle lights at the highest point. For a tower crane, the lights go on top of the tower and at the end of the boom and stay on at all times. The airport operator may withdraw the permission without prior notice in the interest of aviation safety, and the developer or construction company gives an undertaking on its letterhead to comply.

For a crane owner, that changes how you quote. Ask the builder for the NOC’s permissible top elevation and the site elevation before you price a tower crane job near an airport. A crane that cannot be lowered, or a boom length the site cannot use, is a machine standing idle on your bill. Even a pick-and-carry Escorts Hydra 14 works below a tower crane’s height, but its raised boom still counts where the permitted elevation is tight. The crane rental business breakdown shows how fast idle days eat into a crane’s monthly return.

What happens if a building goes above the limit

The Rules themselves set no fine. Rule 15 sends violations to the separate rules on demolition of obstructions caused by buildings and trees. What that means in practice shows in recent cases.

In Mahil Infra v. Airports Authority of India, decided by the Gujarat High Court on 30 April 2026, AAI had issued notices to remove part of a structure. The court quashed notices issued before an aeronautical study had been done, directed AAI to run the study at the petitioners’ cost, and left AAI free to remove any part still found objectionable, again at the petitioners’ cost. In Rajasthan Patrika v. Union of India (Delhi High Court, 24 February 2025), a building topped out at 445.5 m above mean sea level against a permitted 431.34 m, and the court found no impediment to an aeronautical study at the owner’s expense.

The pattern is expensive in both directions: a study you pay for, and a cut-back you may also pay for. The cheaper route is to build the NOC elevation into the drawings, the crane plan and the contract from day one.

Where the NOC fits among the other site permissions

The height NOC is one of several approvals a project near an airport needs before work starts. Rule 7(1) still requires the local body to apply its own building bye-laws, so the AAI NOC does not replace the building permit. A plant or batching unit on the same site may also need pollution-board consent, set out in consent to establish and consent to operate, and a taller building usually needs a fire NOC as well. At handover, the height on the completion drawings is what gets checked, which is covered in occupancy certificate vs completion certificate.

The bottom line

Within 20 km of an airport, the AAI NOC sets a ceiling for the building and for everything you use to build it. The NOC itself is free and online, and the timelines are short when the survey data is right. The crane is the part that catches contractors out: if it will go above the NOC elevation, apply to the airport operator 45 days ahead, and plan for a site where a crane may not be allowed at all.

If you are sizing lifting equipment for a height-restricted site, compare cranes by capacity and type, including crawler cranes for heavy, low lifts, and look for airport and metro work on the tender and project opportunities listings.

Rates, schemes, specifications and prices change — confirm current terms with the OEM, dealer, bank or insurer before deciding. Height limits are site-specific: rely only on the NOC and permissions issued for your site, and confirm current procedure with the Airports Authority of India.