Delhi Airport's Terminal 1 Likely to Reopen by Mid-October

Aug. 11—After remaining shut down for over one-and-a-half years, Terminal 1 (T1) of the Indira Gandhi International airport may finally be made operational by mid-October as the Delhi airport has been witnessing rapid increase in the number of passengers over the last few weeks, officials said.

Delhi airport recorded around 100,000 passengers on Monday, which is nearly half of the average daily footfall of 200,000 recorded before Covid-19 rocked the country. Officials said the daily passengers' figure stood at around 45,000 two weeks ago.

A Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) official, on the condition of anonymity, said a decision on the date of reopening is being considered, adding that the reopening will be smooth even with just a week's notice as they have already carried out all the maintenance work.

Sachin Badshah, the deputy inspector-general (DIG) of CISF, said that his force is already stationed at all terminals for security, and said that they are ready for T1 to be made operational.

T1 was shut on March 25 last year, two days after international flight operations were suspended due to the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country.

After two months, as air operations resumed in the country, only Terminal 3 was opened. Terminal 2 resumed functioning on October 1 last year but was shut again in May, only to resume operations last month.

Officials had earlier decided to open T1 in March but the plan was dropped due to the second wave.

Though DIAL officials said they are yet to decide on a date, the reopening plan said T1 will initially see around 120-150 flights a day, including both departure and arrivals. Before the pandemic, the terminal used to cater to at least 250-300 flights, which translates to around 45,000 passengers, in a day, said a DIAL official.

Terminal 1, which caters to domestic flights, sees operation of only SpiceJet and Indigo carriers.

An official said that the terminal's expansion, "which will take at least a year and half", will double the passenger capacity from 20 million to 40 million passengers per annum. The work will be completed by the end of 2023.

Under the current expansion plan, the apron area of T1 will be expanded to 6.29 lakh sq metres from 2.82 lakh sq metres. The total area of the terminal, including departure and arrival, will be 1.92 lakh sq metres, around three times of the existing 64,000 sq metres.

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