New departure terminal at Delhi airport opens tomorrow

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel will inaugurate a new departure terminal at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi which will be able to handle all outbound domestic passengers, an official said.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel will on Thursday inaugurate a new departure terminal at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in New Delhi which will be able to handle all outbound domestic passengers, an official said.

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However, the terminal, 1D, set up at an investment of Rs.5 billion (Rs.500 crore), will be opened for passengers only by March-end, said the official of the Delhi International Airport Ltd, which runs the IGI Airport.

As of now, passengers of Air India and Kingfisher Airlines board their flights from terminal 1A, while passengers of other airlines, including low-cost carriers, board from terminal 1B.

"Once the new terminal is functional, all airlines will have to operate from terminal 1D, at least for an year till the proposed integrated terminal (T3) comes up," the official said.

The T3 terminal, scheduled to be operational some time next year, is coming up adjacent to the international terminal of the IGI Airport.

However, scheduled airlines like Air India, Jet Airways and the Kingfisher Airlines are not very enthusiastic about moving to the 1D terminal as they will have to shift their operations once again to the T3 a year later.

"We will have to shift to T3 terminal a year later. This could affect our operations," an airline official told IANS.

The Delhi airport, which handles over 70 domestic and international aircraft every day, is the second busiest airport in the country after Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.

The 1D terminal will be able to handle at least 10 million passengers a year and will have 72 check-in counters against 32 at present. It would also have in-line baggage screening system.