Dedicated Terminal In Delhi For Private Flight By 2020

The flight traffic at the Indira Gandhi International Airport has become increasingly high in the past few years. With more than 1,200 flights scheduled for take-off and landing at the IGI Airport along with 40-50 chartered private flights, the airport terminals get quite crowded. In order to cater the rising demands of private and chartered flights in the capital, the authority has decided to construct a dedicated terminal for chartered flights at the IGI Airport. This would not just cater the demands of chartered flights in the capital city but also streamline the flight movement at the airport. In addition to the dedicated terminal for private jets and chartered flights, the IGI Airport would also have a dedicated parking bay for these flights.

Currently, all these flights take off from Terminal I and due to addition of unscheduled private flights to the already scheduled regular flights the airport becomes quite crowded and congested. Most of the VIPs prefer traveling in private jets and currently, all their movement is being done from the Terminal I of the IGI Airport. This new terminal would be ready for use by 2020 and would provide faster access to chartered flights. The Terminal I is presently operating beyond its capacity and is in pressing need of a separate terminal for the private jets that congest this area. An airport source said, “The Delhi airport has a special lounge at Terminal 1 and about 70 general aviation companies have their offices at a building in front of the terminal. The airport operator plans to shift all of them to one place.”

Two concessionaires have been appointed for the same by the Delhi International Airport Limited aka DIAL that handles all the operations at the airport. Fixed base operator (FBO) and world-class maintenance, repair and renovation (MRO) facilities would be developed at this new terminal. It would also have separate aircraft parking bays and hangars for the general aviation services at the airport. The work of this new terminal for chartered flights is under construction and is expected to be completed within three years. i.e., by the end of 2020.

One of the two concessionaires, Bird ExecuJet believes that boarding private flight would also become convenient and faster with the completion of the private terminal for chartered flights. Gaurav Bhatia, the Executive Director of Bird Group has strong views about the same and says, “"One just needs to directly enter the terminal, get the details verified and directly walk on to the plane. Earlier, this process would take close to two hours and further congest T-1. With India's GDP rising steadily and globalization spreading its wings, this type of aviation is becoming a necessity and not a luxury. With the upcoming fixed base operations at Delhi's IGI, passengers will have better access to these services.”

Another official, Rajesh Kumar Bali, MD at Business Aircraft Operators Association says, “The new terminal can further boost that growth by providing faster access to such flights and providing world-class facilities. Even the larger planes can then be accommodated at the IGI airport.” The operation of the chartered flights, as well as the boarding of these flights, need to be streamlined and the opening of this new terminal would be a sigh of relief for the airport officials.

With 1,250 movements in general aviation per month, the financial year 2016-17 saw more than 15,000 movements. According to a DIAL spokesperson, "Initially, general aviation operations at the Delhi airport was unorganized and many local agencies were involved in providing such services. Hence, the services and associated infrastructures offered to general aviation operators were not at par with international standards." The demand of non-scheduled operators would also be taken care of with the completion of this proposed terminal.

The location in Delhi property and the name of this terminal has not yet been decided but it would certainly be a big relief for the airport officials who had a tough time managing the operations of scheduled as well as the chartered planes.