Shutting down T1D not feasible, says Delhi airport

Low cost airlines including IndiGo, GoAir and SpiceJet use T1D

Delhi International Airport Ltd has said shifting all airline operations from Terminal 1D to Terminal 3 is not feasible, taking into account infrastructure facilities such  aircraft bay allocation, runway utilisation, check-in counters and bus gates.

Low-cost airlines IndiGo, GoAir and SpiceJet use T1D, while T3 is used by both foreign and domestic airlines.

The airport operator's response was Airports Authority of India's suggestion for shutting down T1D and shifting all the operations to T3.  This was a part of note sent in July to the civil aviation ministry in July.

Asked to comment,  AAI chairperson R K Srivastava said he was unaware of the note. The ministry does not seem to support AAI's suggestion and last week had approved augmentation of the facilities at T1D, to reduce congestion there.
 

DIAL is a joint venture company, led by GMR Group. Other partners are AAI and Fraport. The airport handled 41 million passengers in 2014-15, of which 26 million were handled at T3 and 15 million were handled at T1D and T1C (which is used for arrivals). While T3 is designed to handle 34 million, T1D and T1C can handle 16 million.  

“T1D has 65 parking bays and is situated close to both the runways, 27 and 28. It is a convenient location and aircraft have to taxi a short duration for take-offs,” an airport source said.  Shutting down of the T1D terminal building  would also impact airline schedules and punctuality, he said, adding that providing of 65 additional bays at T3 would be difficult.

In its note, AAI had said T1D was not part of the master plan and, hence, its construction was not approved. DIAL states this is incorrect and that the master plan was approved in consultation with all stakeholders, including AAI and the ministry.