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Delhi airport is to offer 1,314 slots during the winter schedule which starts from October 29 this year and will be in force till the end of March next year, I Prabhakara Rao, Chief Executive Officer, Delhi Airport said on Friday.
A slot is a landing and take-off sequence for an aircraft at an airport. During the summer schedule Delhi airport offered 1,244 slots. In effect this means that Delhi airport will be able to handle more aircraft during the winter.
The CEO of Delhi airport also said that the airport had made four slots available for flights to be operated from Delhi airport under the second round of the government’s regional air connectivity scheme (RCS). Delhi had offered eight slots under RCS round 1.
The CEO declined to say what were the options available with the airport operator if some low cost airlines refused to shift their domestic operations from the existing terminal. The airport has been keen to move domestic airlines from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 to rebuild and enhance passenger convenience.
``I cannot give any new slots from Terminal 1 slots for the next three years. I leave it to the judgement of the airlines. As far as we are concerned the use of a terminal is an operator’s prerogative. We always look at a more consultative approach. I do not want to get into a discussion on this. All of us work for the aviation sector. Aviation growth is very important. Today all of us know how much we are struggling to increase capacity. Yes, we have to share the pain” the CEO said.
He clarified that even if airlines shifted one-third of their flights there will be no more slots..."one-third i am moving only to faciliate expansion work while we are operating"
A bitter battle has broken out between the Delhi airport operator and two low cost airlines --- IndiGo and SpiceJet --- about shifting their flight operations from one terminal to another here.
GoAir is the only low cost airline which has accepted Delhi airport’s proposal to shift from the existing terminal to terminal 2. GoAir will shift its entire operations to terminal 2 from October 29, something which IndiGo and SpiceJet have declined to do.
“Terminal 2 (T2) has been ready since January this year. All of us have been working for passenger convenience first,” Rao said adding that the airport will be spending between ₹ 65-₹ 70 crore annually on the maintenance of T2.
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