IGIA to get new integrated terminal by 2021

New Delhi, Aug 22 (IANS) The national capital's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) will get a new integrated terminal like T3 by 2021, under the facility's next phase of planned expansion.

The expansion plan for the airport envisaging a new integrated terminal that can handle 40 million passengers per annum was revealed by Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the operator of IGIA, here on Tuesday.

According to DIAL, the budget passenger carriers' departure terminal T1D and terminal T1C will be merged into one and expanded to accommodate 40 million passengers per annum.

"This (merged) terminal will be like another T3. We are going to repeat another T3," said I. Prabhakara Rao, CEO, DIAL, briefing media persons on the expansion plans.

"The capacity of T1 will be increased from 20 million to 40 million... The expansion would enable us to handle the steep rise of the passenger inflow at the airport."

Meanwhile, the company did not divulge any financial details of the project. 

"We are calculating that... and will present it to the regulator by next month. The construction is expected to start from March 2018," Rao said.

The expansion plan encompasses a new pier building which will be built as an extension of the merged terminals with 22 aerobridges and 15 bus gates.

As per the plans, the new integrated terminal will sport better passenger amenities like metro connectivity, multi-level car parking, 10 arrival conveyor baggage belts and expanded air and city-side areas.

However, for the plans to go forward the operator would need to shift some traffic catered by the current T1D to T2 terminal. The T1D terminal, which has a passenger capacity of 20 million per annum, handled 24 million during 2016-17.

The terminal is being used by low cost carriers (LCC) IndiGo, GoAir and SpiceJet for their operations.

Rao said T2 has been revamped at a cost of Rs 100 crore and the three LCCs currently operating from T1D have been asked to shift one-third of their flight operations to T2 from October 2017. 

"T3 and T2 would cater to the growing traffic in the next three to four years by which time T1 expansion project would be completed," Rao said.

"T2 has a capacity of 14 million per annum, this will be sufficient for the next three years, till the time the integrated terminal is ready."

Late last year, DIAL had initiated a consultation process with all three airlines for shifting to T2 given the need of reducing the load on T1. 

The airport operator said that with expansion work at T1D, certain areas of the terminal and city side will operate at a lower capacity of 16 million passengers per annum (MPPA). 

Besides, a new fourth runway and an inter-connected stretch between two existing runways have been proposed in the new plan to increase efficiency which will allow for greater flight movements and save aircraft commuting time from "terminal to tarmac".

The fourth runway is planed to be constructed by 2021 and will ease future pressure on other runways and will be constructed parallel to runway 11/29.

In 2016, DIAL had finalised the expansion plans in consultation with the Ministry of Civil Aviation and other stakeholders.

The expansion plan will be implemented in three modular phases -- 3A (2018-21), 3B (2021-25) and phase 4 (2026 onwards).

Presently, IGIA is the largest and the busiest airport in India. It handled 57.7 million passengers in 2016-17 and over 857,000 tonnes of cargo. 

It has been ranked as 21st busiest airport in the world by ACI achieving highest growth of 21 per cent in calendar year 2016 among top 30 airports in the world.