A shopping mall called T3

New Delhi: The sellers of the India story would have us believe that Delhi's new airport has somersaulted us into the big league. But let me spoil the party.
The fact is that the swank club-class airport of Delhi is just that – show and no substance. To me, the new airport symbolizes what we are doing so wrong. It is about our desperation to make it big, using small, tried and discarded ideas.
Clearly today's imperative is to construct green buildings – functional, compact, designed to conserve materials and energy. But the new terminal of Delhi is precisely the opposite. This airport, unlike the current definition of a modern airport, does not reduce time from our entry into the building and into the aircraft.
Instead, it is deliberately designed to be massive, so it takes time to walk to the aircraft; it takes time to bring baggage from the aircraft to the terminal. And I am not even talking about the awful carpet, which makes it impossible to drag your bag. It is a common traveller's nightmare.
But more importantly, it is a costing-nightmare. Just think of the millions of square inches of built-up space inside the airport that need to be cleaned, serviced, cooled, heated and lighted. Just think: the connected load of the two (old) terminals, 1 and 2 was 12mw of power, which catered to 25 million passengers a year. The new terminal already uses some 60mw, to cater to the same or even less number of passengers. It needs 146mw by 2012.
19/11/10 Sunita Narain/Economic Times

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Categories: Airports Nov 2010