By March, Delhi IGI airport’s flight movements to go beyond 1,500 per day

By March, Delhi IGI airport’s flight movements to go beyond 1,500 per day

PW Bureau 

A high-intensity runway operation is being undertaken by the airport operator, which could increase present aircraft movements to 1,515 per day, or 15 percent

New Delhi: India's busiest airport, New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, will see its flight movements go beyond 1,500 flights per day by May, a senior Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) official has said. At present, the airport handles 1,324 flight movements on an average each day. However, a high-intensity runway operation is being undertaken by the airport operator, which could increase present aircraft movements to 1,515 per day, or 15 percent.

'Target to increase capacity by 200 flight movements'

"We have got capacity constraint on both air side and terminal side. Currently, 25 percent of Delhi's air space is a no-fly zone due to VIP areas, Hindon airbase. We are training the ATC (air traffic controller) for the high-intensity runaway operation to tackle air side capacity constraint," DIAL CEO Videh Kumar Jaipuriar said.

"The target is to increase our capacity by 200 flight movements in the next one-two months," he added.

Expansion of T1, T3 on the anvil

The IGI airport, owned by GMR, is the world's 16th busiest airport, and has handled 58.3 million passengers in this fiscal year so far. As a result of limited capacity available at the aerodrome, many airlines face slot constraints.

DIAL is expected to take on the airport expansion work in the coming months, including the expansion of Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 and the construction of a new runway and taxiways.

Expansion work to be completed in 38 months

Jaipuriar expects the expansion work to be completed in 38 months. "Our terminal side rated capacity is 66 million passengers per annum (mppa). With some debottlenecking, we have taken it to 70 mppa. We don't expect terminal to be ready in the next three years. Till that time we are exploring ways to maintain high passenger service quality," Jaipuriar explained.

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