Indira Gandhi International Airport

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Indira Gandhi International Airport
IATA: DEL - ICAO: VIDP
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Airports Authority of India
Serves New Delhi
Elevation AMSL 777 ft (237 m)
Coordinates 28°33′59″N, 077°06′11″E
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
10/28 12,500 3,810 Asphalt
09/27 9,229 2,813 Asphalt

Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport (IATA: DELICAO: VIDP), located in the city of Delhi, India is one of India's main domestic and international gateways. The airport has been named after former prime minister Indira Gandhi, the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru.

Contents

[edit] Structure

Earlier known as Palam Airport, it was renamed IGI airport with the inauguration of a new international building (Terminal 2) on 2 May 1986. The older Palam airport (Terminal 1) is exclusively used for domestic operations. There is also a separate Technical Area for the use of VVIP movements.

The rated capacity of IGI airport's domestic area is said to be 7.15 million passengers per annum (mppa) whereas the actual throughput last year 2005-06 was an estimated 10.4 million passengers.Including the international terminal (terminal 2), the airport has a total capacity of 12.5 mppa whereas the total passenger traffic in 2005-06 was 16.2 mppa. The lack of proper connectivity between two terminals is problematic for passengers.

Delhi Airport has two non-parallel runways: the main runway 10/28 (12,500 ft 3,810 m) and an auxiliary runway 09/27 (9,229 ft 2,813 m). Runway 28 is one of the few runways in Asia equipped with CAT III-B Instrument Landing System. The winter of 2005 witnessed a record number of disruptions at Delhi airport due to fog/smog. Since then some domestic airlines have trained their pilots to operate under CAT-II conditions of a minimum 350 m (1,148 ft) visibility. On 31 March 2006, IGI became the first Indian airport to operate two runways simultaneously following a test run involving a SpiceJet plane landing and a Jet Airways plane taking off at the same time.

As there is an Indian Air Force Base (Hindon) in the flight path of Delhi airport it is necessary for civilian aircraft to make a 5 minute detour to avoid over-flying the military facility. In previous years the IAF used to close Delhi airport for use during annual celebrations to mark its "raising" day. Starting in 2006 such activities will be conducted at Hindon Air Force Base to reduce disruption to civilian air traffic at Delhi airport.[1] This may be a fall-out of the privatisation of Delhi airport in early 2006.

[edit] Modernization

Due to the very high growth witnessed in air travel during the years 2004 and 2005, of about 24% per annum, the modernization of the New Delhi and Mumbai airports accounting for over 50% of India's air traffic had become necessary to cope with the growing congestion and traffic. The Government of India therefore took up the task of modernization of these airports by opening bids of international airport management consortia.

Following a long and rather controversial procedure, the bids opened by the government were finally won by GMR Industries and Frankfurt airport operator Fraport for the Delhi Airport. According to the deal, the airports will be leased to the private consortium which will hold a 74% stake in the airport while the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will retain 26%. This airport lease will be for 30 years with a provision for extension. The airport is to be ready by the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

There was also a strike organised by the workers of the AAI in protest against the "privatization" of these airports which affected domestic air traffic to some extent. Finally the Civil Aviation Minister, Praful Patel, in accordance with the decision of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, guaranteed the workers that the new management will absorb 60% of the staff and the remaining will be absorbed by the AAI. Reliance Capital which was one of the bidders had challenged the award of contracts in the Delhi High Court but a verdict was given in GMR-Fraport's favor.

The modernization process has begun with the consortiums having deposited the bank guarantees of Rs. 5 billion each.Thus the airport will have an interim terminal that will be ready by 2008 to ease out traffic till the third terminal comes up by 2010. At that time the interim terminal will be used for budget airlines exclusively. The airport's capacity is expected to increase from 15 to 37 million passengers per year.

[edit] Incidents and accidents

[edit] Airlines and destinations

IGI Airport is the home of several Indian airlines including Air Sahara, Indian, SpiceJet, Alliance Air and IndiGo Airlines. Air India, and Jet Airways use IGI Airport as their second hub after Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. The airport is also a major base for various other Indian air carriers including Kingfisher Airlines, Go Air, Air Deccan and Air Sahara.

[edit] Terminal 1 (Domestic)

Indian Airlines aircraft at IGI
Enlarge
Indian Airlines aircraft at IGI

Terminal 1 serves domestic air carriers linking New Delhi with the rest of India.

  • Air Deccan (Amritsar, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata)
  • Air Sahara (Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai)
  • Indian (Agartala, Agra, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Bangalore, Bhavnagar, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Dimapur, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Imphal, Indore, Jaipur, Jammu, Jamnagar, Jodhpur, Jorhat, Khajuraho, Kolkata, Leh, Lilabari, Mangalore, Mumbai, Nagpur, Port Blair, Raipur, Rajkot, Shillong, Silchar, Tezpur, Udaipur, Vadodara, Varanasi, Visakhapatnam)
  • Alliance Air (Bangalore, Chennai, Goa, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Vadodara)
  • IndiGo Airlines (Bangalore,Pune,Kolkata,Guwahati,Imphal,Mumbai,Jaipur,Hyderabad)
  • Jagson Airlines (Dharamshala, Jaipur, Jaisalmar, Kullu, Shimla, Udaipur)
  • Jet Airways (Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Bangalore, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jammu, Jodhpur, Kolkata, Leh, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Pune, Raipur, Srinagar, Trivandrum, Udaipur, Vadodara, Varanasi)
  • Kingfisher Airlines (Bangalore, Goa, Kolkata, Mumbai)
  • Paramount Airways (Chennai, Coimbatore)
  • SpiceJet (Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Mumbai,Srinagar,Jammu, Guwahati, Chennai, Goa, Varanasi, Bangalore)
  • Go Air (Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune)

[edit] Terminal 2 (International)

International carriers operating scheduled services from the Indian capital to the following cities are:

[edit] Fixed Base Operators (FBO)

[edit] Caterers

  • Ambassador's Sky Chef
  • Chef Air
  • Taj-Sats
  • Oberoi Flight Services

[edit] Fuelers

[edit] Ground Handlers

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Scintillating show marks Air Force Day - The Tribune
  2. ^ Aviation Safety Network retrieved 18 November 2006


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