IGI operations take a big leap

New Delhi: Delhi’s IGI airport is the busiest airport in the country at present, handling an average of about 843 flights per day. On November 29, it handled its highest ever traffic with 865 operations. Officials say that there has been a drastic increase since the winter schedule kicked in, specially with Air India having introduced hub operations . However, the high numbers could also spell massive delays during fog if both runways are not available for operations.
In September, before the winter schedule kicked in, IGI airport was seeing an average of 795 movements per day. ‘‘ There has been quite a major jump in movements since September. We are also seeing a lot of unscheduled movement and military operations because of which the numbers keep fluctuating each day. However, at optimum utilization , Delhi can handle a much larger number of flights,’’ said senior airport officials.
The factors for growth in Delhi’s traffic, other than the fact that it is the capital city, include its central position in airlines’ hub planning. With Air India declaring it its hub and introducing extra flights this season, movement went up by about 40. Other airlines have already announced their plans of following suit, contingent on how successful the new terminal 3 is. ‘
08/12/10 Neha Lalchandan/Economic Times

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Categories: Airports Dec 2010