M A I N   N E W S

Indira Gandhi International Airport
Terminal 3, bigger & better
Himani Chandel
Tribune News Service

Big is better Completed in a record time of 37 months Capacity to handle 34 million passengers p.a. Spread across 5.4 million sq ft It will have 78 aerobridges 6 common check-in islands with 168 counters 95 immigration counters 100 transit rooms Project cost Rs 12,700 crore Multi-level underground parking to accom modate 4,300 cars

New Delhi, June 23
The largest in India and the sixth largest in the world in terms of its size (5.4 million square feet), Terminal 3 (T3) at the Indira Gandhi International Airport is all set to start operations in July. To be inaugurated by the Prime Minister on July 3, Air India and all other international airlines will shift their operations to T3 by July 14. All domestic carries except GoAir are also expected to start operating from the Terminal by the end of July.

The Terminal will have the highest number of aerobridges in the world at a single site, 78. Only the Changi airport at Singapore comes close with 64 aerobridges. The present international terminal at Delhi has 10 aerobridges. The aerobridges are designed to handle 600 passengers per hour and cater to the largest aircraft in the world, the super-jumbo Airbus A-380 which can carry over 500 passengers. With the new aerobridges, an A-380 will be able to load 555 passengers in about 25 minutes.

The terminal is ‘barrier free’ to suit the requirements of passengers with special needs or reduced mobility besides safe wheel-chair access to and from the aircraft.

The plush terminal will also have 63 elevators, 35 escalators and 92 automatic walkways. The present terminal has only one escalator and no automatic walkway. The ‘travelators’ will reduce commuting time from one place to another inside the three-kilometre long terminal building.

The terminal is also designed to make Delhi an aviation hub and cater to transit passengers. Passengers who now prefer to halt at places like Dubai for connecting flights, will now have another option before them, claimed a spokesman of the Bangalore-based construction company GMR, which has promoted the Delhi Airport International Ltd ( DIAL) as a joint venture with Airport Authority of India, Fraport of Germany and Malyasian Airport Holdings.

A transit hotel on the top floor with as many as 100 rooms, business centres, malls covering 20,000 square metres of retail space and luxury lounges are the other features of the plush terminal.

While the new terminal building of the Beijing airport took 60 months to complete, Terminal 3 at IGI, the spokesman added, was completed in a record time of 37 months. The terminal will have 168 check-in counters and 95 immigration desks with 49 of them for out-bound passengers.

The Terminal, all glass, chrome and metal, has huge hands, folded in greeting, at the arrival lounge.

The walkways have been connected to the air-conditioned multi-level car parking underground, which will have a capacity to hold 4,300 cars.