Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said that runway Terminal 2 is likely to be closed from April for four to five months due to maintenance. Runway T1, which is currently under maintenance, and T3 will be in service to manage the burden of T2.
Roughly, 107 millions of passengers annually can be accommodated by three terminals, namely T1, T2, and T3, at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.
The work at T1 is expected to be completed by March 15 and will be opened for flights, as per the required clearance from DIAL’s Director-General Videh Kumar Jaipuriar.
“It is likely T2 will be closed in April for four to five months. About 15 million of T2’s capacity will be transferred to T1.” To handle the increased traffic, the airport operator has proposed to convert part of T3 into an international terminal, currently used for domestic operations.
“Average international load is around 67,000 to 68,000 per day…. If you multiply that with 365, it comes to close to 24 million. The rated capacity for the international terminal T3 is 20 million. In fact, we are sweating the asset to the tune of 20 per cent. So, we have come out with the proposal to convert Pier C (section of the airport), which is currently domestic, into international at T3. The international capacity will become 32 million. This will take care (of the capacity) for the next four to five years as per the airlines’ projections,” said Jaipuriar.
At present, T1 has a 40 million capacity, followed by 15 at T2, while the rest goes to T3. Jaipuriar said T3 was envisaged for an international 34 million but is operating at 45 million.
