To tackle the ever increasing traffic, the Delhi airport’s private operator has tweaked the original master plan.
According to the initial plan, Terminal 1D of the Indira Gandhi International Airport was expected to cater to 15 million passengers. But now, it is bursting at the seams due to the huge increase in traffic.
“Back in 2006, we had expected low cost carriers to cater to 35 per cent of passenger traffic and 65 per cent of passengers using full cost carriers. However, at present 55 per cent of passenger traffic is from budget carriers, which has forced us to change our plans,” said a spokesperson of airport operator Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL).
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DIAL has now embarked on a major expansion plan for Terminal 1D, which will see its size go up from the present 53,000 square metres to 1,33,000 square metres in the next three years. “By February 2016, we will expand the terminal on the airside and it will be able to cater to 18 million passengers per annum. In three years, we will be catering to 30 million passengers per annum,” he added.
DIAL expects to cater to more than 100 million passengers per annum at Terminal 3 and Terminal 1D. Also, it plans to build Terminal 4 next to Terminal 3, which will cater exclusively to domestic flights. “We plan to use Terminal 3 as an international terminal,” he said. DIAL is also planning to add a fourth runway to increase its flight handling capacity.
DIAL now plans to build Terminal 4 next to Terminal 3, which will cater exclusively to domestic flights