Terminal T3 set to take IGI to world level

The airport’s capacity this year is projected to increase to 60 million passengers per year to match international standards of efficiency. It will be linked with the rest of the city by a high-speed Metro link.

“The terminal at China’s Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) was readied just before the 2008 Summer Olympics hosted by the city,” a spokesperson for the city airport operators,the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL),said. “Similarly,Delhi will host the Commonwealth Games this October,and IGI Airport’s Terminal 3 is one of the key infrastructure projects under development to play a vital role in boosting the city’s ability to host the mega-event.”

Civil structural works at all nine levels of the building have been completed and the project has now entered the “home stretch,” the spokesperson said. “The building and boarding piers are getting covered with glass facade,which would give the terminal its signature look.”

At present,more than 85 per cent work on T3 has been completed. The development is part of the first phase of the masterplan for IGI Airport,with a total project outlay of Rs 9,000 crore.

Construction of the boarding piers has been completed — these piers will house 48 contact stands. Of these,three stands are dedicated for use by A-380 aircraft with three aerobridges. In addition,six more contact parking stands and three remote parking stands at T3 would be used to cater to A380,or similar-sized aircraft.

An airport official said that after the Hyderabad airport,T3 would be the only terminal in India to handle Airbus A-380,the world’s largest commercial carrier that can carry a maximum of 840 passengers.