Indira Gandhi International Airport

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Indira Gandhi International Airport
इंदिरा गांधी अंतरराष्ट्रीय हवाई अड्डा

IATA: DEL – ICAO: VIDP
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator DIAL (Delhi International Airport Limited)
Serves Delhi Metropolitan Area
Location New Delhi
Elevation AMSL 777 ft / 237 m
Coordinates 28°33′59″N 077°06′11″E / 28.56639, 77.10306
Website www.newdelhiairport.in
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
10/28 12,500 3,810 Asphalt
09/27 9,229 2,813 Asphalt
Check-in area of domestic departure terminal 1A
Check-in area of domestic departure terminal 1A

Indira Gandhi International Airport (Hindi: इंदिरा गांधी अंतरराष्ट्रीय हवाई अड्डा) (IATA: DEL, ICAO: VIDP), located in New Delhi, is one of India's main domestic and international gateways. The airport has been named after former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. It is the second busiest airport in South Asia. The airport is second busiest in India and as per the survey by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), and it is predicted to become the busiest airport in India by 2010. The airport served 23 million passengers in 2007 according to Fraport, part of the joint venture, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), that manages and owns the airport. Delhi is the first airport in South Asia to have handled an Airbus A380 superjumbo aircraft. It is also one of the earliest airports in Asia and the world to have done so.

Contents

[edit] Structure

Earlier known as Palam Airport, it was renamed IGI airport with the inauguration of a new international terminal (Terminal 2), shaped like a trapezoid on 2 May 1986. The trapezoid terminal (international) has 9 jet bridges. Currently, the airport is undergoing construction. The older Palam Airport, now known as Terminal 1, is exclusively used for domestic operations and has been divided into three separate terminals - 1A (for domestic flights of state owned Indian Airlines and now the United Breweries Group Kingfisher Airlines), 1B (for all other domestic airlines) and Domestic Arrival Terminal. There is also a separate Technical Area for the use of VVIP movements. Additionally there is a separate Hajj terminal for catering rush during Hajj.

The capacity of Terminal 1 is estimated to be 7.15 million passengers per annum (mppa). However, the actual throughput for 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 2006/07 was 16.5 million passengers per annum[1] In 2007, there was a 6.5 million increase in the airport's passenger traffic, making the number of passengers 23 million that used the airport. The passenger count was handled by fraport, and authority of the airport. There is a free transfer shuttle between the terminals.

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 and the only one in South Asia equipped with CAT III-B instrument landing system. In the winter of 2005 there were 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 (1,100 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. This may be a fall-out of the privatisation of Delhi airport in early 2006.

[edit] Modernisation

Current Arrivals Section of International Terminal (not modernised)
Current Arrivals Section of International Terminal (not modernised)

Delhi Airport has been going through major upgrades since Fraport, Airports Authority of India, Eraman Malaysia, and GMR Infra. have been granted the contract to manage and build the airport over a 35 year time. Terminal 1A and 2 have all been renovated with new washrooms, ceilings, new departure area, and latest security equipment.

With this, the companies have also been constructing the brand new Terminal 3 at Indira Gandhi International Airport. This terminal will cater to both domestic and international passengers until the second phase of construction is done, which will include another new terminal which will cater to only international flights. This terminal will come in place of the old terminals already at the airport. The new Terminal 3 will be a two tier building, with the bottom floor being the arrivals area, and the top being a departures area. This terminal will have over 160 check-in counters, 74 aerobridges, 30 parking bays, 72 immigration counters, 15 X-ray screening areas, for less waiting times, duty-free shops, and much more[citation needed]. Over 90% of the passengers will use this terminal when completed. The airport will also have a new runway to cater more than 75 plus flights an hour, almost triple then what they do now[citation needed]. The runway will be more than 4,400 m (14,000 ft) long and one of Asia's longest. This new terminal should be done by the 2010 Commonwealth Games that are to be held in Delhi, and will be connected by an 8 lane motorway (National Highway 8), and the Delhi Mass Rapid Transit System. Terminal 3 will cater to more than 35 million passengers a year.

Terminal 3 would form the first phase of the airport expansion in which a U shaped building would be developed in a modular manner. In 2010, all international and full service domestic carriers would operate from Terminal 3, while Terminal 1 would be developed as an exclusive terminal for low cost carriers. In subsequent stages, the low cost carriers would also move to the new terminal complex. Terminal 4 and 5 will be built later, but once done all International Flights will move to these two new terminals. And a new cargo handing building would be made. Also existing runways will be upgrades and a fourth parallel runway will be built. Once this is all done Delhi Airport will have over 500 check-in counters, over 200 aerobridges, 150 immigration counters, restaurants, shops and much more and will be able to handle over 100 million passengers a year[citation needed].

Also being planned is an aeropolis that will include, restaurants, hotels, shops, temples, and much more. The plan is to make the airport into a "city to itself". The Government is investing 12,000 crore in this project and investors investing over 24,000 crore. The Airport Authority wants to see a business centre also constructed.[citation needed].

[edit] Incidents and accidents

Security hold area of domestic departure terminal 1A
Security hold area of domestic departure terminal 1A

[edit] Airlines and destinations

IGI Airport is the home of several Indian airlines including Indian Airlines, SpiceJet, Air India Regional 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, GoAir, Deccan and Jet Lite. Almost 100 domestic, international, and cargo airlines serve this airport.

[edit] Terminal 1A

Terminal 1A caters to domestic Air India flights and Kingfisher flights.

  • Air India IC (Agra, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jammu, Jodhpur, Khajuraho, Kolkata, Leh, Lucknow, Mangalore, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Raipur, Ranchi, Srinagar, Surat, Udaipur, Vadodara, Varanasi, Visakhapatnam)
    • Air India Regional (Bangalore, Chennai, Goa, Kanpur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Vadodara, Visakhapatnam, Raipur, Bhopal)
  • Kingfisher Airlines (Agra, Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Pune, Srinagar, Udaipur, Varanasi)

[edit] Terminal 1B

Terminal 1B caters to all Jet Airways domestic flights other domestic airlines

  • Deccan (Amritsar, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Ranchi)
  • GoAir (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Goa, Hyderabad, Jammu, Mumbai, Srinagar)
  • IndiGo Airlines (Agartala, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Imphal, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Vadodara)
  • Jagson Airlines (Dharamshala, Chandigarh, Pantnagar, Kullu, Shimla)
  • Jet Airways (Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Bangalore, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jammu, Jodhpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Leh, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Pune, Raipur, Srinagar, Thiruvanathapuram, Udaipur, Vadodara, Varanasi)
  • Jet Lite (Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Ranchi, Thiruvanathapuram, Varanasi)
  • SpiceJet (Ahmedabad, Bagdogra, Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jammu, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Srinagar, Varanasi, Visakhapatnam)

[edit] Terminal 2

Terminal 2 is the international section of the airport. With its small size and minimal capacity it often suffers major congestion due to the increasing international flights that operate from this airport.

[edit] Cargo terminal

IGIA won an award in 2007 for their outstanding efforts in maintaining an organised, balanced cargo handling system.

[edit] Terminal 3

Currently under construction, will be complete by 2010. From then, all of international traffic and full service domestic airlines traffic will move to this massive, modern terminal. With a capacity to handle 34 million passengers a year, it will become the second largest terminal after Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport in the world.

[edit] Hajj terminal

This terminal is exclusively used for the religious annual Islamic pilgrimage of Hajj. Most flights bound for the Middle East, such as flights operated by Emirates Airline or Saudi Arabian Airlines or national carrier Air India as well as the abundance of other Middle Eastern airlines serving Delhi operate through this terminal during the specific time of year. Upon Hajj's termination, the airlines return to the previous terminals they belonged to.

[edit] Previous carriers

The following have suspended operations from New Delhi:

  • Air Canada (Toronto-Pearson, Zürich) Air Canada had initially launched a non-stop route between Toronto and Delhi in 2003 using an Airbus A340 aircraft 3 times per week, and was the first carrier to initiate direct flights linking North America and India. In 2005, the carrier decided to adjust the route to include a stopover in Zürich. This allowed Air Canada to provide year-round service between Toronto and Zürich, as well as increase service from 3 times per week to daily. The route also provided for a code share agreement so that Swiss International Air Lines could sell seats on the flights. Additionally, a Boeing 767-300ER aircraft was substituted for the route so that the A340 aircraft could be re-deployed to start flights to new markets in South America from Toronto. However, the ZRH-DEL service was suspended altogether on April 4, 2007 due to erratic passenger traffic, with demand dramatically at an uncontrollable peak during the winter but a lower demand during the spring and summer. Air Canada could not afford a seasonal service to Delhi for just the winter months, so decided to discontinue Delhi on the route map, choosing to introduce new Chinese destinations instead. Air Canada has retained a commitment to India by codesharing with Jet Airways, which flies to Toronto via Brussels. Passengers also originating in Canadian cities which have direct service to London Heathrow on Air Canada can transit to fly Jet between LHR and Amritsar, Delhi and Mumbai. Air Canada also codeshares with Lufthansa and Swiss International Air Lines on Canada-India routes.
  • Alitalia (Milan-Malpensa) Service was suspended after the carrier decided to abandon its dual hub strategy between Milan-Malpensa and Rome Fiumicino due to their financial crisis. As a result both routes to Delhi and Mumbai were dropped due to speculation that Jet Airways may make Milan-Malpensa a second European hub following the success of its Brussels operations. When Alitalia emerges from its financial crisis it will reconsider resuming Delhi.
  • United Airlines (Washington Dulles,London-Heathrow, Hong Kong). United Airlines originally started service to New Delhi in 1995, as part of its "Round the World Service" program. United Airlines used to run a flight from Dulles to New Delhi, with a stopover in Heathrow. United also used to run a daily Delhi-Hong Kong flight. These flights were originally suspended after the September 11th attacks and United finally canceled all service out of New Delhi in October 2001.
  • Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, Frankfurt, New York-JFK, Paris-CDG)
  • Paramount Airways (Chennai)-Domestic operation
  • Other carriers that have discontinued operations are El Al (Tel Aviv), Scandinavian Airlines System (Copenhagen), Myanmar Airways International, Iraqi Airways, Air Ukraine and Tajik Air. Syrian Arab Airlines also had discontinued operations to New Delhi, however the service was recently revived and has been re-routed via Sharjah.
  • Swissair had to discontinue operations to Delhi due to the collapse of the airline. However the new international airline of Switzerland, Swiss International Air Lines has begun a six times weekly service from Zürich to Delhi.
  • Eurofly (Rome-Fiumicino) Service cut due to lack of success on route.
  • Scandinavian Airlines System served Delhi for roughly two years, however later axed the route for unknown purposes. On the other hand, Scandinavian Airlines will revive the service due to the economic and aviation boom in India, and are confident this new four times weekly service (with the potential to increase) will be a cash cow [1]

[edit] Future Airlines and Routes

  • Iberia Airlines (Madrid) (begins January 2009) Plans to relaunch services to India in 2009 and plans on flying to Indira Gandhi International. With limited success with opening business in Mumbai, Iberia cut off routes to South Asia. However in 2009, Iberia Airlines is planning on commencing a major expansion plan in Asia, adding routes Tokyo and Shanghai and in the second quarter Hong Kong, Beijing and New Delhi.[3]
  • Kenya Airways (Nairobi)[4] The route has already been approved along with many other new Indian destinations besides its only current destination of Mumbai in India. However the exact date of commencement cannot be determined until new aircraft are brought into the fleet since Kenya Airways cannot meet the capacity on the Nairobi-Delhi sector with their shortage of aircraft.
  • Kingfisher Airlines (Vancouver) (Date of commencement undecided)[5]
  • Scandinavian Airlines System (Copenhagen) (resumes 27 October 2008)
  • South African Airways (Johannesburg). South African Airways currently serves Mumbai as its only Indian metro. However the airline has recently acknowledged that they are losing a great deal of business by not having Delhi as well, for there are many passengers who wish to travel to Delhi but there are no direct flights so end up canceling their travel plans. Calling this destination "top priority" South African Airways has announced it will enter this lucrative market and expand India operations soon. [2]
  • Garuda Indonesia (Jakarta) has already introduced daily nonstops to Chennai's Anna International Airport and will be commencing services to Bangalore's Bengaluru International Airport in July. The airline expects to expand India operations even further and are applying for rights to serve Delhi and Mumbai. [3]
  • US Airways (Philadelphia) US Airways has purchased new Airbus aircraft. They have talked about flying to India in the future.
  • Xiedu Airlines (Beijing) (planned)

[edit] Fixed base operators (FBO)

[edit] Caterers

  • Ambassador's SkyChef
  • Chef Air
  • Taj-Sats
  • Oberoi Flight Services
Indian Airlines executive lounge in domestic departure terminal 1A
Indian Airlines executive lounge in domestic departure terminal 1A

[edit] Fuelers

[edit] Ground handlers

  • Air India
  • Indian Airlines
  • GlobeGround India
  • Airworks India
  • Cambata Aviation
  • Livewel Aviation Services Pvt Ltd.
  • Concord Aviation Pvt Ltd.

[edit] References

  1. ^ IGI Airport tops world in growth
  2. ^ Aviation Safety Network retrieved 28 May 2008
  3. ^ and Dubai and Mumbai in the third phase.Iberia volará en 2009 Tokio y Shangai para tender puente Latinoamérica y Asia
  4. ^ Kenya Airways interested to fly to Delhi
  5. ^ Non-stop Delhi-Vancouver flights announced

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
v • d • e
Airports in India
International
Military
Closed
* Designated as a "restricted international airport" ("customs airport"). Only few international flights operate from these airports.