International traffic moves to T3 from today

DIAL plans to use old terminal for low-cost international carriers

This is it. After hogging television footage and print space for weeks, tomorrow is the day of reckoning for Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) as its swank new baby, Terminal 3 (T3), opens to international passengers.

At the same time, it is not curtains for the old terminal. DIAL, the operator of the airport, is reworking its plan to devote T2 — which handled all international flight movements till today — to low-cost international carriers.

The airport’s initial plan to start commercial operations in T3 from mid-July had to be put off after airlines complained of lack of necessary infrastructure and proven flights. The terminal has now received Airbus A380, the largest commercial aeroplane.

“The new terminal has many new features and some glitches might happen initially. But we have back-up plans to provide seamless travel to our passengers,” said DIAL Chief Operating Officer (COO) Andrew Harrisson.

Though all the airlines will shift their operational offices to T3 from tomorrow, the administrative offices will be shifted only on August 10.

T3 can now handle 27 million passengers a year. Its total capacity is 34 million, but that can be reached once it adds more check-in counters and immigration staff, among other things.

To start with, T3 will handle 90 flights, which will eventually go up to 220.

While the terminal will allow international passengers from tomorrow, it will start domestic operations by the end of next month when Air India, Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways and their low-cost subsidiaries will shift their operations to the new terminal. Other LCCs will, however, operate from the Terminal 1D, the existing domestic terminal.

“We have upgraded the T2 terminal and have made large investments in it. It has a capacity to handle 4.5 million passengers though we were handling as much as 8 million. The terminal, of course, is not as modern as T3. But the thinking is that we could convert it into a low-cost carrier (LCC) international terminal offering differential or lower rates for services,” Harrisson said.

Harrisson further said that with Indian LCCs like SpiceJet and IndiGo about to start services and a bevy of foreign LCCs like Air Asia coming in, there was a growing demand for a separate airport for international LCCs where services offered would be cheaper than T3.

The COO pointed out that DIAL currently handles about 26 million passengers annually, of which 12 million are of LCCs. He said that the LCCs had expressed the desire to shift to T3 by March next year.

“We have to examine their proposal and take a call; we would like to accommodate them,” said Harrisson. However, if that happens, T3’s capacity to handle 34 million passengers per annum would be enough only for a limited period.

Harrisson said DIAL, therefore, had to take a call on whether to defer further expansion of the airport and build a fourth terminal (T4) by June 2018 as envisaged earlier, or let the LCCs operate from the existing terminals rather than shift to T3.

But DIAL could decide on this only after it was able to make traffic projections, considering the recession faced by the industry, he said.

The COO, however, added that the runway was capable enough to handle 60 movements an hour, which is equivalent to handling over 45 million passengers per annum.

“Earlier, the airport was built on a projection of traffic growth of 16-18 per cent. But with the recession in the aviation industry, the new projections were 8 per cent per annum. However, in the last few months, we have seen a better-than-expected growth rate of 13 per cent. But it is still early to project and we will have to wait for a few months,” Harrisson said.