International flight operations are all set to begin from the new Terminal 3 (T3) of IGI Airport from Wednesday.
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“The airlines will shift their operations to T3
from 2 pm on Wednesday. We have chosen Wednesday to shift from Terminal 2 to T3, as there are the least number of flights between 2 pm and 7.30 pm on this day,” said Andrew Harrison, Chief Operating Officer of the private airport operator Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL).
The new terminal was inaugurated by PM Manmohan Singh on July 3 and international operations were scheduled to begin from July 14. The launch of commercial operations, however, was postponed to July 28 as some work, including the construction of airline offices and synchronization of check-in and boarding systems, was unfinished.
Domestic operations are scheduled to begin from August 27, when full-cost carriers Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher, along with their low-cost arms Air India Express, JetLite, JetKonnect and Kingfisher Red will shift their operations from T1A and T1D to T3.
The first flight to arrive at T3 will be Air India’s New York-Delhi flight (AI 102) and the first to depart will be AI’s Jaipur-Delhi-Dubai flight (IC-895).
With the opening of T3, curtains will fall on the 24-year-old old Terminal 2. The last flight to arrive at T2 will be Pakistan International Airlines Lahore-Delhi flight (PK 270) and the last departure will be Gulf Air’s Delhi-Bahrain flight (GF 135) at 6.05 pm.
“Check-in for the first departing flight (IC-895) from T3 will begin from 2.50 pm and all the facilities like food and beverage counters, shops and other facilities will start functioning from Wednesday,” Harrison said.
On the first day of the operations, around 90 flights will operate from T3, of which around 50 will be foreign airlines.
DIAL has put up signages and deployed a battery of volunteers to help and guide the passengers to T3. Apart from it, DIAL will run a shuttle services for passengers between T2 and T3.
Harrison said that T3 will provide seamless connectivity to the international and domestic passengers with world-class experience after Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher also shift their domestic operations.
DIAL said the ‘proving’ flights operated on July 14 and 15 helped check the operational readiness of all stakeholders including Airlines, Ground Handlers, Aviation Oil Companies, Caterers, Air Traffic Control (ATC), Concessionaires, agencies like Immigration, Customs, CISF etc.