India’s modern airport facilities

New Delhi

Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi is India’s busiest airport, handling more than 34 million passengers in the financial year between April 2012 and March 2013. The flagship Terminal 3 was inaugurated in July 2010 in time for the Commonwealth Games and was built in just 37 months. The terminal has a capacity of 34 million passengers a year and covers 5.4 million square feet. There are plans to add three more terminals to IGIA by 2026, according to the master plan on the official website. One of these will be a terminal dedicated to low-cost carriers. Delhi International Airport is the joint venture company, which is developing and operating the airport in a public-private partnership. It comprises GMR Group, Airports Authority of India, Fraport and Malaysia Airport Holdings.

Bengaluru (Bangalore)

Bengalaru International Airport last month changed its name to Kempegowda International Airport in honour one of the city’s founding fathers. A new terminal was launched at the airport at the same time to cater to projected growth in passenger arrivals. This includes facilities to receive large aircraft such as the Airbus A380, 26 boarding gates and a VIP terminal. The airport has more than 100 acres of landscaping including indigenous plants and trees to reflect the fact that Bengaluru is known as the Garden City. The airport has the capacity to handle 20 million passengers a year. Bangalore International Airport is the public limited company that was set up to build, own and operate the airport, which was opened in May 2008. GVK holds a 43 per cent stake in the company, while Siemens Projects Ventures has 26 per cent and Flughafen Zurich has 5 per cent. The remaining 26 per cent is government-owned through Karnataka State Industrial Investment and Development Corporation and the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Mumbai

With its design inspired by India’s national bird, the peacock, the Terminal 2 facility covers 4.4 million square feet. It is scheduled to open to passengers on February 12. The terminal has capacity for 40 million passengers a year. The new facility is also to be home to India’s largest public art programme, with a 3-kilometre art wall featuring more than 7,000 pieces of artwork and artefacts from the state and across the country. It was built by Mumbai International Airport, which is is a public- private partnership joint venture between the GVK-led consortium and AAI.

Hyderabad

Hyderabad Ranjiv Gandhi International Airport was opened in March 2008, less than three years after the design and construction of the facility began.

The project is based on the public private partnership model, with the airport being developed and operated by GMR Hyderabad International Airport, which is a joint venture company made up of GMR Group (63 per cent) in partnership with the government of India (13 per cent), the government of Andhra Pradesh (13 per cent) and Malaysia Airports Holdings (11 per cent).

The airport is intended to be developed in phases and will eventually have the capacity to handle 40 million passengers a year. It received more than 8.3 million passengers between March 2012 and April 2013.

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