IGI airport heads for ₹9,800-cr upgrade

To cater to increasing number of passengers at the IGI airport in Delhi, the GMR-led consortium has decided to invest ₹9,800 crore towards construction of a fourth runway, expanding parking stands for aircraft to 82 meters from the current 55 meters and increasing the airport’s handling capacity to 140 million passengers annually. The Delhi airport is run by the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), which is a consortium of the GMR Group, the Airports Authority of India and Franport. The consortium has the mandate to finance, design, build, operate and maintain the airport for 30 years with an option to extend it by 30 years. In the proposed new plan, the entire T1 apron will be demolished and a new and expanded structure constructed to provide for 82 aircraft stands, informed Deputy Managing Director, GMR Group, Prabhakara Rao. The progressive completion of the T1 apron will be from July 2020 to June 2022. The arrival and departure terminals in T1 will be integrated under one roof. Plans are also afoot to build a flyover at the aerocity metro station junction to reduce travel time between Terminal 1 and Terminal 3. L&T has been entrusted with the entire EPC work in the latest phase of development for which work has already started.