Delhi airport’s Terminal 2 will be used for flights to smaller cities

Under RCS, Delhi will be connected to small destinations such as Bhatinda, Shimla, Agra, Bikaner, Gwalior, Ludhiana, Pathankot and Jalandhar.

To ensure the existing terminals at Delhi airport are not burdened, most of the flights coming under Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) will operate from the unused Terminal 2 for operations.

Under RCS, Delhi will be connected to small destinations such as Bhatinda, Shimla, Agra, Bikaner, Gwalior, Ludhiana, Pathankot and Jalandhar. (Virendra Singh Gosain/HT PHOTO)

Delhi has two operational terminals — T1 and T3. While T1 is operating beyond its capacity, T3 too is congested due to increase in number of flights.

Under RCS, Delhi will be connected to small destinations such as Bhatinda, Shimla, Agra, Bikaner, Gwalior, Ludhiana, Pathankot and Jalandhar.

“Most of these destinations will be connected by Air India subsidiary Alliance air. They will have the option to operate from T3, but other airlines will have to operate from T2,” said an official from Ministry of Civil Aviation.

“In the first round of bidding, Spicejet was also awarded a route from Delhi and they will not be allowed to start the flight from T1. In the second round of bidding, some new routes and airlines will be added, but they will be asked to operate from T2,” the official said.

T2 was renovated to accommodate at least two of the three low-cost airlines operating from Delhi airport’s Terminal 1. The airport operator wants to shift two of the three airlines — Indigo, SpiceJet and GoAir — to another terminal temporarily to be able to expand and decongest T1.

“Talks are on an advanced stage and while RCS flights will operate from T2, the low-cost carriers will also be shifted there by October,” the official added.

International flights used to operate from T2 before T3 was commissioned in 2010. Since then, T2 was lying abandoned and used to handle Haj operations once a year.

The Delhi International Airport Limited took up the renovation work a year ago and it has been completed, but the airlines are reluctant to shift there fearing a rise in operational cost.

Currently, Indigo, SpiceJet and GoAir operate their domestic flights from T1. Though the initial plan was to shift SpiceJet and GoAir to T2, the airlines refused. Later, it was planned to shift only Indigo and allow the other two to operate from T1.