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With 4 runways, Delhi airport aiming to double capacity before the end of this decade

A recently done capacity study by the UK-based air traffic management firm NATS has found that Indira Gandhi International Airport’s 4 runways can fly in and out 14 crore passengers annually and that too before the end of this decade. The number is more than double of the 6.9 crore international-cum-domestic flyers seen in 2019.

ET Now Digital

Updated Mar 25, 2022, 10:54 IST

New Delhi: The Delhi airport is looking to increase the number of flyers and will have dedicated terminals for big airlines soon. With this, Delhi's IGI airport will earn the name for being India’s first hub to have virtually dedicated spaces for the two mega desi airline groups - the Tata group and IndiGo.

Delhi airport, which has 3 runways at present, will get its 4th runway this summer and with this, it will also become India's first with four runways. IGIA’s upcoming runway is 4,400 metres long and 75 metres wide.

“We are moving towards having dedicated terminals for big airlines. The Terminal 1 expansion will be complete in 1.5 years and then all of IndiGo’s domestic flights will move there. T1 will be the terminal for budget airlines’ domestic flights. As of now, it will be only a domestic terminal,” DIAL CEO Videh Kumar Jaipuriar told TOI.

T3 will serve 3 Tata group airlines — Air India, Vistara and AirAsia India. All three will have the entire operations from T3. Meanwhile, IndiGo, with nearly 300 planes as of now and over 500 on order, is keen to get its own dedicated terminal, according to insiders.

“The NATS study has shown that the optimal utilisation of our four runways can lead to an airside capacity of 14 crore passengers annually. This will require air traffic management techniques to safely handle more planes by reducing their separation and many other technical methods,” Jaipuria said.

He further added that the airport’s capacity can double from 6.9 crores in 2019 over the next few years.

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