Terminal 1 at Delhi airport shut, traffic diverted to T 2&3

Tribune News Service

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, June 28

In order to ensure smooth management of the situation arising out of the collapse of a portion of a canopy at Indira Gandhi International Airport’s Terminal 1, a 24*7 war room will be established under the supervision of the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Debris removal, repair to take four days

The removal of debris of the damaged portion of the canopy at Terminal 1 and its renovation is likely to take four days, following which the terminal would again be opened for operations, said sources in the airport

It was decided in a review meeting held between Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu and key officials, including the Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Director-General of Civil Aviation, Chairman of the Airports Authority of India, Director-General of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and Joint Secretaries of the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Following the roof collapse incident, Terminal 1 has been shut down till further notice. It has been decided to divert the traffic to Terminal 2 and Terminal 3. The war room will ensure that the additional traffic is handled at the two terminals without any major hiccup.

According to sources in the airport, the removal of debris of the broken portion of the canopy at Terminal 1 and its renovation is likely to take four days, following which the terminal will again be opened for operation.

Ruling out further disruption in flights, the sources say that there is not much chance of heavy congestion resulting from the changes. “GoAir was operating from Terminal 1. However, it has been shut down and Akasa Air has been given the permission to operate from Terminal 2. Akasa Air has a very small fleet, so the additional traffic is not expected to create much of a problem in Terminal 2,” the source said.

The source further said Indigo was already operating in Terminals 2 and 3 and it should be able to operate its additional flights diverted from Terminal 1 to the two other terminals without facing any major difficulty.

The war room will also ensure full refund of cancelled flights and provide alternative travel route tickets as per availability. All refunds will be processed within a stipulated time of seven days. Contact details, including phone numbers, will be provided to passengers for immediate assistance.

It was also decided during the review meeting that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) should be asked to issue a circular to all minor and major airports to conduct a thorough inspection of the structural strength. These inspections must be completed within the next 2-5 days and the reports must be submitted to the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Based on the findings, the need for increased safety measures and the development of long-term policies to prevent the recurrence of such unfortunate incidents will be formulated.

Structural engineers from IIT-Delhi have been asked to immediately assess the incident at the Terminal 1. Further examination will be decided based on their initial findings.

AAI will also have the Jabalpur incident examined, wherein the roof of the airport — inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi three months ago — collapsed on Thursday.

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