IGI expansion plan to facilitate new aircraft night parking stands

As a part of the expansion plan of Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, the Centaur Hotel will be replaced by a new facility of “aircraft night parking stands”. The facility for parking aircrafts has been planned under the DIAL’s 2016 Master Plan of IGI.

“The non-operational aircraft or those needing parking for overnight for more than 2 hours can be accommodated in the new facility. The airport needed more space to accommodate bigger aircraft as IGI is emerging as a new aviation hub in South Asia,” said the sources.

“Extension of the termin-al and construction of mo-re aircraft parking stands are planned in future,” said an official. The need for the Delhi airport to develop its infrastructure is increasing,” he added.

Sources said that with the coming of the new airplanes, there was a pressing demand for an airport to be equipped with all advanced facility in advan-ce and this aircraft night shelter facility will serve the purpose. The aircraft night parking stands will allow the servicing of aircrafts in case there are delayed flights or technical problem at any of the aircraft.

“As a part of the overall Master Plan 2016, location of the Centaur Hotel site is part of the area where aircraft night parking stands, airport apron, and maintenance hangars are planned in the future,” said the spokesperson of Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL).

Any airline can obtain parking stands for their aircraft at night when they are not conducting any night operation. These parking stands will help the airport operator to decongest the airport. Pre-ference will be given to th-ose airlines that will make Delhi airport as a hub.

“Delhi airport’s current capacity to handle 62.5 million passengers per annum and 1.5 million tonnes of cargo makes it ideally suited to serve the growth of Indian aviation. The airport has the ability to expand to 109 million passengers per annum and 2.2 million tonnes of cargo when it will reach its saturation point,” said a source. Meanwhile, DIAL is expected to start working on getting a fourth runway in place this year, which could be ready by 2018. This would take up the capacity of the Delhi airport from 75 aircraft movements per hour to 105 aircraft movements per hour. The airport already has three functional runways, and now, to keep pace with the growth witnessed, will add a fourth runway shortly.

DIAL is expecting to start construction before the end of 2016 and complete it before 2018.