T3 to open for domestic flights from Oct. 30

File picture of the domestic departures area of Indira Gandhi International Airport Terminal 3 in New Delhi.

At least a couple of missed deadlines later, domestic operations at Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport here are set to begin from October 30.

While international operations began on July 28 after an initial July 14 deadline, there has been a long wait for domestic operations to commence at the integrated terminal. The initial dates given for commencing of domestic operations were July 31 and August 27.

For its part, Delhi International Airport Limited has claimed that they have not missed any deadline and all dates were announced in consultation with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the airline community and other stakeholders.

DIAL further claimed that as operators they had managed to get the infrastructure ready, but owing to delays in the establishment of the dedicated Delhi Metro airport line, water and electricity supply and issues cited by some airlines, the domestic operations could not commence in time.

Air India, Kingfisher Airlines, Kingfisher Red, Jet Airways, JetLite and JetConnect will operate their first flights on October 30 from Terminal 3. IndiGo, GoAir and SpiceJet will operate from Terminal 1-D while GoAir will also shift from Terminal 1A to 1D.

The first domestic flight from Terminal 3 will depart at 5 a.m. on October 30. The first few gates at the terminal have been allocated for domestic operations.