The full-scale commercial operations at the swanky new integrated terminal 3 (T3) of the IGI airport here will begin from Wednesday with all airlines shifting their operations, with an Air India flight from New York being the first to arrive.
“The airlines would shift their operations to T3 from 14:00 hours tomorrow. We have chosen Wednesday to shift from T2 to T3, because on this day there are least number of flights between 1400 hours and 1930 hours,” Andrew Harrison, Chief Operating Officer, DIAL, said.
Passengers of Air India’s flight (AI-102) from JFK New York would be the first to arrive at the world’s sixth largest airport, when its commercial operations begin, he said, adding Air India’s Jaipur-Delhi-Dubai flight (IC-895) would be the first flight to take-off from here.
AI-102 will arrive at T3 at 16:45 hours while IC-895 would depart for Dubai at 18:50 hours.
Tomorrow, all the international flights would arrive at T2 till 16:45 hours, but after the departure of Gulf Air flight (GF-135) to Bahrain at 18:05 hours, all the operations at T2 will be shifted to the new terminal.
“Check-in for the first departing flight (IC-895) from T3 would begin from 14:50 hours and, all the facilities like food and beverage counters, shops and other facilities would also start functioning from tomorrow,” Mr. Harrison said.
He also assured that T3 would provide seamless connectivity to the international and domestic passengers with world class experience, after three full service carriers — Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher — also shift their domestic operations from August 27.
“It will be a hub like the airports in Dubai, Changi in Singapore, from where passengers like to fly to other destinations, as T3 would truly transform the experience of those travelling to and from India,” he added.
On the first day of the operations, around 90 flights would operate from T3, of which around 50 would be foreign airlines.
DIAL had pushed back the operation date of T3, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on July 3, by a fortnight to provide more time to all stakeholders to deal with any glitches, including setting up of airline offices, synchronising security procedures, baggage handling and the whole range of airport operations.
