Delhi Airport T1 closure: 22,615 passengers affected; 9,972 refunded

The schedule of 22,615 passengers was disrupted and 10,168 tickets were cancelled and refunded, the ministry said

The flying schedule of more than 22,000 passengers was affected over the weekend due to the closure of the Terminal 1 (T1) of Indira Gandhi International Airport following the collapse of its roof on Friday which resulted in the death of a cab driver, the civil aviation ministry said on Monday.

Flight operations from T1 were indefinitely suspended on Friday after the roof collapse amid heavy rains and winds left one person dead and eight injured. (Sanchit Khanna/HT)

According to data furnished by the civil aviation ministry, the schedule of 22,615 passengers was disrupted and 10,168 tickets were cancelled and refunded. Of the latter, refunds have been issued for 9,972 passengers booked on IndiGo (9,431) and SpiceJet (541) flights, while the refund of 196 passengers remains pending.

Flights were cancelled following the closure of T1 on Friday even as there were no cancellations over the weekend as the operations were shifted to the airport’s Terminal 2 (T2) and 3 (T3).

Union civil aviation minister Rammohan Naidu inspected the Airport Operations Control Centre and met with officials of his ministry, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), and airline operators to review operations and passenger handling following the transition of flights from T1 to T2 and T3, the ministry said.

“A comprehensive assessment was conducted, involving detailed discussions on ensuring smooth functioning and deploying additional manpower to manage increased passenger flow,” the aviation ministry said in the statement.

The statement added DGCA held a briefing on the activation of war rooms, facilitating close coordination between DIAL and the airlines. “...Naidu advised all stakeholders to maintain rigorous standards to ensure seamless operations and prioritise passenger safety.”

Flight operations from T1 were indefinitely suspended on Friday after the roof collapse amid heavy rains and winds left one person dead and eight injured.

DIAL, which said the primary cause of the collapse appeared to be the heavy rainfall, on Friday formed a technical committee to investigate the incident and announced a compensation of ₹20 lakh to the family of the person killed and ₹3 lakh each to those injured.