Delhi airport plans to increase annual passenger handling capacity to 125 million

New Delhi: Delhi airport plans to increase its annual passenger handling capacity to 125 million from the current level of 106 million under the proposed ten-year master plan, according to a source.

As part of the expansion under the master plan, DIAL also proposes to build Pier E at Terminal 3 (T3) with a capacity of 10 million by April 2030.

For now, no decision has been firmed up on having Terminal 4 or building the Automatic Passenger Mover (APM).


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The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in the national capital is operated by the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL).

IGIA, also the country's biggest airport, has three terminals -- T1, T2 and T3 -- and international flight operations are only from T3.

The source told PTI that the master plan for 10 years till 2036 will be finalised after consultations with the stakeholders.

In the first phase, the proposal is to increase the annual passenger handling capacity to 116 million by April 2030. The capacity will be further raised to 125 million by 2032, the source said.

At present, the airport has an annual passenger handling capacity of 106 million spread across the three terminals. The capacity is 42 million, 14 million and 50 million at T1, T2 and T3, respectively.

At T3, there is domestic capacity of 19 million and international capacity of 31 million.

Currently, T3 has four piers -- Pier A and B for international operations while C and D are for domestic operations. Pier C has now been converted for international operations.

Pier E is to be constructed at T3 by April 2030.

Generally, a pier at an airport is a long and narrow structure or transfer facility from the main terminal building and allows passengers to use aerobridges to enter an aircraft.

While there are no immediate plans, a 7.5-kilometre right of way will be earmarked for the APM (Automated People Mover) system in the master plan, the source said.

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The earlier plan was to build an elevated cum at-grade system at the airport on the design, build, finance, operate and transfer model to provide seamless connectivity for passengers between T1 and the two other terminals.

Regarding T4, the source said that depending on the passenger traffic, if there is a need to have more capacity, then conversion of T2 to T4 could be looked at.

Delhi airport, operated by GMR Group-led consortium DIAL, witnessed passenger traffic of 6 million in July, an increase of 3.7 per cent compared to the year-ago period.

In the current financial year 2026-27 till July, the passenger traffic stood at 26.4 million.