Delhi airport to increase passenger handling capacity by 20% by 2030: CEO

The GMR-led Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) aims to boost the Indira Gandhi International Airport’s (IGIA’s) annual passenger capacity by about 20 per cent — from 105 million to 125 million — by 2029-30, without immediately replacing the existing Terminal 2 (T2).

 

According to DIAL Chief Executive Officer Videh Kumar Jaipuriar, the expansion will be achieved through a mix of infrastructure upgrades, including building a new “pier E” at Terminal 3, easing congestion at Terminal 1, and adding more aircraft parking stands at T3. Together, these measures are expected to raise IGIA’s capacity to 125 million passengers per annum (MPA) by 2030.

   

“We are working on the master plan. Based on that, in a month or so, we will know whether the proposed 10–12 MPA pier E that should be ready at T3 in two to three years will be domestic or international. We expect to exhaust our existing 105 MPA capacity in three to four years,” Jaipuriar said at the Aviation India 2025 summit here on Wednesday.

 

Currently, Terminal 3 has four piers — two each for domestic and international operations. This winter, one of the domestic piers will be converted for international flights, resulting in three piers for overseas operations and one for domestic traffic. The new pier E, expected to be ready within three years, will be assigned based on future demand projections.

 

In the longer term, DIAL plans to demolish the 1986-built T2 — capable of handling about 15 MPA — and replace it with a larger terminal. However, that plan has been deferred for now as the Noida International Airport (NIA) prepares to open later this year and gradually scale up. The refurbished T2, which reopened on October 26, 2023, will therefore remain operational for the time being.

 

Jaipuriar said any decision to rebuild T2 would depend “on the trigger of traffic.” Typically, airport operators expand facilities once passenger volumes reach 80 per cent of total capacity. With IGIA expected to handle 125 MPA by 2029-30, that threshold would be around 100 MPA.

 

As the Delhi airport handled just under 80 million passengers in 2024, the next phase of development could begin within three to four years.

 

The impact of the Noida airport on Delhi’s passenger numbers will also guide the timing of T2’s replacement, Jaipuriar stated. For now, T2 continues to operate, effectively gaining a few more years of use thanks to the upcoming airport in Jewar.

 

Jaipuriar said the Delhi airport is “well prepared” for the winter season, with technology playing a key role in managing passenger flow. “Our ‘airport predictive operation centre’ (APOC) generates data that we share with all stakeholders like airlines, the CISF, and the Bureau of Immigration. This gives us a fairly accurate passenger footfall expected each hour, which allows personnel deployment by stakeholders accordingly at all touchpoints like terminal entry, check-in, security check, and immigration. This sharing of data has cut wait time at security check by 15 per cent,” he said.

 

The three terminals and four runways together can currently handle 105 million passengers annually, with traffic now around 80 MPA. “We are very comfortably placed capacity-wise. This winter should go smoothly for passengers,” Jaipuriar said.