Friday, October 27, 2017

No relief from IGI crowding, flight crunch this winter

New Delhi: Despite assurances from the authorities, there will be no relief from overcrowding at IGI's domestic terminal, nor will the airport's flight frequency go up this winter.
The infra crunch at India's busiest airport was supposed to have eased in the upcoming season, with its three runways handling six more flights every hour and the jam-packed Terminal 1 getting some breathing space. But neither is runway capacity increasing as promised nor are one-third flights shifting from T1 in a hurry.
The minutes of meetings prepared by Airports Authority of India on slot allocation this winter shows IGIA's runways will handle only 67 flights an hour, 62 schedule and five are VVIP, defence and charter flights. Aviation authorities had promised that IGIA's three runways will handle 73 flights an hour this winter. This was supposed to lead to six-seven more flights an hour from 6am to 11pm, meaning an increase of almost 120 flights a day -leading to more choice for flyers through increased frequencies and new destinations being connected to Delhi.
"Maximum throughout hourly capacity (saturation capacity) for mix mode operation when all three runways are available at IGIA: Global (arrival + departure) capacity is 75 movements (70 schedule + 5 non schedule).(But) Practical hourly capacity (to be considered for allocation of slots) at IGIA: Global (arrival + departure) capacity is 67 (62 schedule + 5 non-schedule)," the AAI minutes state. On its part, Delhi Inter national Airport Pvt Ltd (DIAL) said this winter its peak runway capacity will touch 73 aircraft movements. "This winter we will operate under a profiled schedule which includes a peak hour of 73 scheduled operations... to maximise available scheduled slots based on airline demand and the capacity of the airport.During winter 2016, the airport averaged 1,170 scheduled slots per day and averaged 1,230 scheduled during summer 2017. During the winter of 2017, the airport will average more than 1,300 scheduled slots per day ," a DIAL spokesman said.
27/10/17 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
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