Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), which runs the Indira Gandhi International Airport, announced on Wednesday that Terminal 2 (T2) would be shut down for four to five months starting from April, and one of the runways will also be closed for up gradation during this period.
The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in the national capital has three terminals -T1, T2 and T3 - and the total annual passenger handling capacity is around 109 Million.
DIAL CEO Videh Kumar Jaipuriar said the works at T1 is expected to be completed by March 15 and will be open for flights after getting requisite approvals.
T2 is expected to be shut down temporarily in April for four to five months, he said and added that the capacity of around 15 million at T2 will be moved to T1. T2 also has a capacity of around 15 million which will be moved to T1 while it is temporarily shut down. T1 has an annual passengers capacity of 40 Million.
With increasing traffic, the airport operator will also be converting a T3 section for international flights. Currently, this section is used for domestic operations.
"Average international load is around 67,000 to 68,000 per day. If you multiply that with 365, it comes to close to 24 Million. The rated capacity for the international terminal T3 is 20 Million. In fact, we are sweating the asset to the tune of 20 per cent.
"So, we have come out with the proposal to convert Pier C (section of the airport), which is currently domestic, into international at T3. The international capacity will become 32 Million. This will take care (of the capacity) for the next four to five years as per the airlines' projections," he said.
At present, T1 has an annual passengers capacity of 40 Million, T2 has 15 Million and the remaining is at T3.
Jaipuriar said T3 has been designed for international capacity of 34 Million and now 45 Million passengers are handled there.
"T2 to be shut for four to five months. During this period, one of our runways is going to be non-operational because ILS (Instrument Landing System) upgrade will be happening. We want to do it before the winter season," he said.
To address this, a proposal has been made to convert Pier C, currently used for domestic flights, into an international section at T3. This expansion will increase the terminal's international handling capacity to 32 Million passengers, which is expected to meet demand for the next four to five years.
With the upgrade, the runway will be CAT III B compliant, which means flights can operate at low visibility conditions. During the winter season, the airport generally experiences visibility issues due to fog.
