Delhi Airport Congestion: Scindia Visits T3; Holds Discussions, With Stakeholders

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday visited Delhi airport and held discussions with all stakeholders on ways to address the congestion at the airport. Scindia, along with senior ministry officials, visited Terminal 3 of the airport amid complaints from passengers about long queues and waiting hours in recent days. Officials said the minister inspected in the morning the arrangements made to address the congestion, and key directions were issued with specific timelines.

The measures will be implemented soon, and the changes are expected to take effect in the next six to seven days, the officials said. Specific details could not be ascertained immediately. Over the past few days, passengers have been complaining about long waiting hours at the airport and some also shared pictures of the crowd at the airport on social media. Discussions are also going on with airlines to reduce the number of flights during peak hours at the three terminals.

The effort is to have 14 flights at T3, 11 in T2 and 8 in T1 during these hours, officials had said on Saturday. The peak hours are from 5 am to 9 am and 4 pm to 8 pm. Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in the national capital is the country's largest airport. It has three terminals -- T1, T2 and T3. All international flights and some domestic services operate from T3. On average, it handles around 1.90 lakh passengers and about 1,200 flights daily.

On December 7, Scindia held a detailed discussion with heads of all major Indian airports, CISF and immigration officials on capacities deployed. The discussion was also on the capacities required at every point to process domestic and international passengers smoothly through the peak travel season. During the meeting, various initiatives, including plans for peak hour capacity based on passenger processing capacity at each airport, were also discussed.

(PTI)