Terminal 1B bows out of operations

After a continuous run of more than half a century, Delhi airport’s old departure terminal 1B ceased operations on Wednesday.

After a continuous run of more than half a century, Delhi airport’s old departure terminal 1B ceased operations on Wednesday.

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All domestic airlines would now operate from the newly opened terminal 1D or terminal 1A.

Jet Airways, JetLite and SpiceJet shifted to terminal 1D on Wednesday. Kingfisher Red, Kingfisher Airlines and Indigo had already shifted to the

Rs 500 crore new terminal in the last month.

The private airport developer Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL) built the new terminal 1D, which started operations from April 19, to replace the perennially crammed and decrepit terminal 1B.

Air India, however, would keep operating from the terminal 1A, along with Go Air, MDLR Airlines and Jagson Airlines.

While terminal 1B could handle 2.5 million passengers a year, terminal 1D would be able to accommodate more than 8 million.

The old terminal could be razed to build a parking lot or used for operation of chartered planes. There are also plans to build a cargo office complex or a shopping complex at the site where 1B stands now.

“Constructing 1D was not part of the master plan to modernise Indira Gandhi International Airport and that is why we still don’t have a fixed plan for terminal 1B,” said a senior DIAL official who didn’t wished to be named.

“The building could be demolished or a new general aviation terminal (non-scheduled flights, chartered planes etc.) could be built there.”