Delhi airport is set to undergo another makeover, almost 10 years after GMR won the bid to modernise the facility in 2006.

Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), which handled 57.7 million passengers and over 8,57,000 tonnes of cargo in 2016-17, is seeking to transform Delhi Airport into a preferred Hub Airport of Asia. The expansion process, as per the Airport Master Plan 2016, covers the airport airside, terminal and landside to meet future requirements.

3-phase development The makeover, which is being driven by four basic principles including growth of low-cost airlines, which now fly more than half of the market, and growth in cargo carried by passenger aircraft is part of GMR’s Master Plan 2016. The plan will be implemented in three modular phases — Phase 3A will extend from 2018 to 2021, Phase 3B till 2025 and Phase 4 from 2026.

“We are planning for the next 10-15 years. Physical work will begin early next year,” I Prabhakara Rao, Chief Executive Officer, DIAL, said on Tuesday. He, however, declined to reveal how much money will be spent on the makeover or whether passengers will be charged for the changes being planned.

“Once we go to the Regulator (Airport Economic Regulatory Authority), we will come back on this. We are not getting into User Development Fee because cost has not yet been finalised,” Rao said. In the past, Delhi Airport charged a fee from arriving and departing passengers to partially offset some of the costs incurred by DIAL for the modernisation work.

Terminal merger As part of the makeover, Terminal 1D and Terminal 1C will be expanded and merged into a single terminal and expanded to accommodate 40 million passengers a year.

“Terminal 1 now does not have a single aerobridge,” Rao said, adding that under the new plan, Terminal 1 will be expanded to 1.7 million sq metres, up from 60,000 sq metres at present. In addition, it is proposed to have 35 Common Use Self Service (CUSS) kiosks, up from 12 currently.

CUSS allows a passenger with only hand-baggage to go for automatic check-in without having to wait at a counter, thus cutting down the time taken at the airport. CUSS provides an even quicker option of checking-in passengers without any check-in baggage as the kiosks can print out boarding passes, allow choice of seat and also print tags for bags.

Temporary terminal Until Terminal 1D and Terminal 1C are completed, Terminal 2, which was built in 1983 and was operational till 2010, will be used for low-cost operations. Once Terminal 1 D and IC are completed, Terminal 2 will be demolished to make way for Terminal 4.

Plans are also afoot to have a fourth runway by 2021 apart from having an elevated eastern cross taxiway which will enhance airside capacity by allowing aircraft to reach their parking bays faster.

The master plan includes modification of apron to meet future aircraft demand equipped with modern facilities such as bridge mounted equipment and visual docking guidance system. The modified T1 will also have 22 aerobridges.

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