With the low-cost carriers having cornered close to 40 per cent of the civil aviation market in the country, airport planners are seriously considering providing separate terminals for these "no-frills" players whose business depends on faster turnarounds.
The Delhi Airport, in fact, could well become the first airport in the country to have dedicated terminals for carriers such as Air Deccan, SpiceJet and Go Air.
Speaking to Business Standard, G M Rao, chairman of the GMR Group - which is executing the airport modernisation project in Delhi - said that the existing terminals at the airport here will not be dismantled.
According to Rao, the existing terminals will be modernised even as the new terminal is being built. "We are thinking of reserving the existing terminals for use by the low-cost carriers," said Rao.
The new terminal will be an integrated one with international and domestic sections being housed under the same roof.
"The new terminal will have stainless steel roofing from end to end. The terminal will be a steel and glass structure like the best international airports of the day," Rao added.
Asked whether the new terminal will be ready by the time the Commonwealth Games Review Committee arrives to inspect the facility in 2009 (a year ahead of the Games), Rao said that by then 95 per cent of the work would be completed.
"Our targeted completion is for March 2010 and we expect to complete the terminal before time." The holding capacity of the airport is expected to increase from the present 16.2 million passengers per year to around 30 million passengers by then.
The concessionaire for the modernisation project also plans to open a shopping mall inside the airport complex. The mall will most probably be open to people other than air travellers as it will be located before the terminal and will be accessible to the residents of the city as well, Rao added.
