NEW DELHI, 26 February (H.S.) : Delhi airport operator DIAL on Wednesday said that Terminal

2 (T2) is expected to be shut-down for 4 to 5 months starting from April and

one of the runways will also be closed for upgradation of ILS (Instrument

Landing System).

Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) CEO Videh Kumar

Jaipuria said the works at T1 is expected to be completed by March 15 and will

be open for flights after getting requisite approvals. With increasing traffic,

the airport operator will also be converting a T3 section for international

flights. Currently, this section is used for domestic operations. T2 is

expected to be shut down temporarily in April for four to five months, he said

and added that the capacity of around 15 million at T2 will be moved to T1.

The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in the

national capital has three terminals, T1, T2 and T3 and the total annual

passenger handling capacity is around 109 million. At present, T1 has an annual

passenger capacity of 40 million, T2 has 15 million and the remaining is at T3.

Jaipuria said T3 has been designed for international capacity of 34 million and

now 45 million passengers are handled there. “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, he said.

“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”, Jaipuria said.

Hindusthan Samachar / Meenakshi Bhattacharya