Delhi airport’s new T1 arrivals section may reopen in a week

An official said the terminal is ready and last-minute checks will be carried out over the course of the week

: Domestic passengers landing at Delhi airport may soon exit from the arrivals section of the new Terminal 1 (T1) building, which is now ready and likely to be opened for public operations soon, the airport operator said on Monday.

The revamped T1 at Delhi airport. (Sourced)

An airport official, who asked not to be named, said the new building — which will eventually replace and subsume the two existing T1 units — could be opened for public operations as early as next week.

“The terminal is ready and last-minute checks will be carried out over the course of the week,” the official said.

Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the airport operator, is constructing the new T1 building. The existing arrivals terminal, known as T1(C), will be demolished once flight operations shift to the new building, said officials.

The new building, once completed in entirety (which may be sometime in 2023, according to officials), will bring departures and arrivals at T1 under the same roof.

The airport operator began paving the way for a new T1 building years ago, as passenger traffic began to far exceed the terminal’s annual capacity of 20 million people. Some airlines were asked to shift operations to T2 in early 2018 to make way for renovations. Portions of the T1(D) and T1(C) buildings, which handle departures and arrivals respectively, were brought down, as a stepping stone to a larger, unified T1 building.

Before this, T2 was only used for a couple of months each year for Haj pilgrims.

Once the new T1 building is completed, the airport operator is likely to stop regular passenger operations at T2, as earlier, with domestic airlines fully shifting their operations to the new terminal.

Construction work on the new T1 building eventually began in August 2019, even as operations continued from the T1(D) and T1(C) buildings, till they were shut on March 24, 2020, owing to the Covid-19 outbreak.

When the government announced the resumption of flights, T3 was the first to be reopened, on May 25, 2020. Then, T2 was reopened on July 22, 2021, while operations at T1 resumed on October 1, 2021, after passenger traffic increased considerably.

Only IndiGo and SpiceJet flights are operating from the old T1 terminals -- TI(D) and T1(C.

The new T1, being built as part of Phase 3A of the airport expansion plan, will merge the arrival and departure sections, have a new node building that houses retail and food and beverage outlets, and a pier building that comprises 22 contact stands for aircraft.

The new arrivals terminal spans 8,000 square metres and is equipped with four new baggage carousels, officials said, adding that the building has been constructed in consonance with the globally accepted “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)” green building standards, with the widespread use of glass panels to allow ample sunlight during the day and reduce power consumption.

“In addition, lighting fixtures and equipment like HVAC [heating, ventilation and air-conditioning] and baggage belts are energy efficient,” said a DIAL spokesperson.

The new T1 arrivals terminal is now part of a separate building, closer to T1(D) than T1(C).

Once reopened, the new T1 will be able to handle 40 million passengers a year, as against the old terminal’s 20-million-passenger capacity.

Airport officials said there will be no shift in flight operations with the opening of the new T1 arrivals building, with IndiGo and SpiceJet to continue to operate there as they were operating from the existing T1 building.

All GoFirst flights will be operating from T2, which will also host IndiGo’s 2000 series flights, while T3 will continue to operate all international flights, along with the remainder of domestic flights, such as Vistara.

The Delhi airport can currently handle around 70 million passengers per annum at its three terminals. T3 can handle 35 million passengers per annum, T1 can manage 20 million passengers and T2 has the capacity to handle 15-18 million passengers annually. After expansion work at T1 and T3, the two terminals will be able to handle 40 million passengers and 40-45 millions passenger per annum respectively.

Outside the new arrivals terminal, the operator has added three pick-up lanes for cars. T1 will now have 11 pick-up lanes, which “will ease congestion and significantly improve passenger experience and convenience during pickup,” the DIAL spokesperson said.

“DIAL has completed expansion work of the arrival terminal at T1 and it is now ready for operations... The new arrival terminal is another step towards enhancing infrastructure and improving passenger experience at Delhi Airport. The current domestic arrival operations will move to the newly constructed arrival terminal, which will allow DIAL to demolish the existing arrival terminal, T1C,” said I. Prabhakara Rao, deputy managing director of the GMR Group, which manages the Indira Gandhi International Airport.