Airlines reluctant to shift to new terminal at Delhi

New Delhi: Even as the Delhi airport’s sparkling new domestic departure terminal opened on Sunday, full-service carriers including Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines are already complaining about the extra costs they will have to incur in shifting to the new terminal.
Executives of Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines told Business Standard that they found it unnecessary to shell out an extra Rs 10 crore for this new terminal, especially since they would have to shift to the new integrated terminal — T3 — in less than a year. T3, when it begins functioning in March 2010, will be an integrated terminal for all operators.
Kingfisher, Kingfisher Red and IndiGo have already started operations from the new T1D terminal, while Jet Airways, JetLite and SpiceJet are yet to shift.
“Setting up back-offices would cost us Rs 2-3 crore. Also, for contracts for the common user terminal equipment (CUTE), we would have to shell out Rs 10 crore more,” said an executive from one of the carriers.
“We are being shifted to T3, which DIAL says will come up in March 2010,” he added. Executives also said there were problems due to faulty baggage belts and air conditioning system at the new departure terminal.
When contacted, a DIAL spokesperson said, “We can say that the executives of the highest levels in all these airlines are very keen to shift to the new terminal because of the new experience it offers the passengers. Unlike what has been spread, the CUTE charges only come to Rs 35 per passenger, which will not be high as Rs 10 crore.”
“We had to shift to the new terminal because the older one had become too congested. There have been some teething problems but they are much less compared to other airports. We had only three flights delayed yesterday and those delays were only for 5-10 minutes,” he added.
21/04/09 Anirban Chowdhury/Business Standard

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Categories: Airports Apr 2009