Flight operations are set to be resume from the Delhi Airport’s Terminal 2, or T2, from October 1 after its six-month closure, the airport operator said on Monday.
Only Terminal 3, or T3, of the airport, has been functional given the low frequency of flights since they resumed in May two months after their suspension on March 25 as part of sweeping measures to enforce social distancing to check the Covid-19 pandemic. Terminal 1 is undergoing expansion and remains closed.
The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the operator, said the resumption of flight operations from T2 will be with 96 air traffic movements–48 departures and 48 arrivals–daily. The movements are expected to increase to 180 by October end.
“The terminal [T2] will resume operations with IndiGo’s 2000 series flights and entire operations of GoAir in the initial phase. About 27 counters–11 for GoAir and 16 for IndiGo–have been created to cater to the passengers… The first flight scheduled from T2 after reopening of this terminal would be Srinagar bound Indigo flight, which will depart at 6:25 AM,” the airport operator said in a statement.
It said added to start with, IndiGo will cater to 20 destinations from T2. The destinations include Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Bhopal, Bengaluru, Cochin, Guwahati, Indore, Jammu, Lucknow, Chennai, Patna, Srinagar, Thiruvananthapuram, and Visakhapatnam.
“In the next phase, from October 8, [flights to] at least 12 more destinations, including Mumbai, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Goa, Hyderabad, Madurai, Jaipur, and Nagpur, will start operating from T2,” the statement said.
DIAL CEO Videh Kumar Jaipuriar assured the passengers of a safe and healthy environment. “We have implemented several measures at the airport to ensure passenger safety without compromising their comfort and experience. Our teams have worked round-the-clock to sanitise the vast terminal. DIAL will continue its awareness drive by educating and encouraging passengers to maintain social distance while at the airport.”
An airport official said measures like adequate seating arrangements with social distancing markings, sanitisation of high contact surfaces, and contact-less retail outlets have been made to ensure the safety of passengers.
