Delhi airport working with regulators to further ease security clearance for transfer passengers

New Delhi: Delhi airport is working with regulators on ways to make the security clearance process "less burdensome" for transfer passengers, especially for those travelling from domestic to international destinations, according to a senior executive.

Around 30-35 per cent of its annual traffic are transfer passengers, who transit through the airport.

"We have been working with the security regulators to also see how the transfer passengers will have, what I should say, a less burdensome security clearance. Especially the domestic to international, domestic to domestic...," GMR Airports Executive Director S G K Kishore said on Tuesday.


The national capital's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), also the country's busiest, is operated by the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), which is part of GMR Airports.

He was speaking at the Aviation India and South Asia 2026 conference in the national capital.

Amid concerns in certain quarters about high airport charges, Kishore said that in a growing industry, when there is a lot of capital infusion, capital infrastructure has to be developed; airport charges are bound to go up.

"So, for me, and today, it is not that the airport operator or developer is arbitrarily against this decision. There is a clear economic regulator to look into what should be the airport charges.

"Neither I have an option, nor he has an option. There is a clear formula. The more capital goes into the project, the airport charges are bound to go. And over a period, they will come down," he said.

Kishore also said the company ensures there are no capital or cost overruns and projects are completed on time, as he cited the example of Bhogapuram airport.

Currently, IGIA has an annual passenger handling capacity of 106 million, which is set to increase to 125 million.

In 2025-26, the overall traffic at the airport was around 78.7 million, and in the current fiscal, the numbers are likely to be around 82 million.

The airport has four runways, a cross taxiway and three terminals - T1, T2 and T3.