Delhi IGI Airport will witness some major changes soon. The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), that manages the IGI Airport, has stated that once completed, these changes would benefit the passengers and provide world-class facilities to them. Delhi airport, which is India’s busiest airport and is ranked amongst the best in the world, is witnessing five major changes. These are; expansion of IGI airport, construction of dual elevated Eastern Cross Taxiways (ECT), airlines shifting terminal, fixed terminal for charter flight services, private jet, and the possibility of air train for passengers.
Top 5 upcoming changes on world-class IGI airport
1. Delhi Airport expansion: DIAL has stated that as part of the expansion, Delhi Airport will have more state-of-the-art facilities, additional runway, and enhanced passenger handling capacity. DIAL is aiming to enhance the passenger handling capacity to 100 million passengers per annum (MPPA) by 2022. It has also stated that once the project is completed, airside handling capacity would go up to handle 140 MPPA. A new T1 Apron will be constructed. Delhi airport will also become the first airport to have four runways.
After completion of the project, Terminal 1 will become three times bigger as it will have the capacity to handle 40 MPPA, a rise from the current capacity of 20 MPPA. Terminal 3 will also be modified, that includes the doubling I-I Transfer Area and creation of 7th check-in island. A world-class Terminal 4 will also be built as part of the extended expansion project
2. Dual elevated Eastern Cross Taxiway (ECT): As part of its expansion plan, DIAL said that Delhi Airport would become the first airport in India to have dual elevated Eastern Cross Taxiways (ECT). The first-of-its-kind ECT will intersect two main roads leading to the Terminal-3. There will be two tunnels to ensure the vehicular traffic movement. According to the plan, ECT will cut-down time taken both during take-off and landing as well as save fuel consumption.
Apart from this, a flyover will also be constructed at Aerocity metro station junction that will reduce travel time from T1 to T3.
3. Airlines shifting terminal: Passengers boarding flights from Delhi Airport from September 5 onwards must take note of the terminal changes by the airlines. Spicejet has announced that it will shift its entire operations from Delhi Airport Terminal 2 to Terminal 3. IndiGo will partially operate from T2 even as its 5000 series flights will shift from T2 to T3. GoAir will continue its domestic operations from T2. However, flight operations of IndiGo and SpiceJet at T1 will remain unchanged.
4. Fixed terminal for private jet, charter flight services: In a move to match the facility available at large and busy airports around the world, Delhi airport (DEL) authority will now have a fixed-base operator (FBO) terminal. This is a fixed terminal meant for catering to private jets and charter flight services. This facility will also help expand general aviation services. Under this FBO service, parking, flight instruction, fuelling, aircraft rental, and aircraft maintenance are available.
5. Air train at Delhi’s IGI Airport: GMR-led DIAL is planning to start monorail services for passengers to provide a hassle-free mode of transport to travel from one terminal to another. If the project gets materialized, passengers will be able to avail the automated people mover’ (APM) service to board mero or taxi. Such facility is available at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Source: Financial Express
Image Source: Hindustan Times
