As the name suggests, this airport is named after the late prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi. It serves as the primary civilian aviation platform for the capital of India, New Delhi. The airport boasts of a massive spread of about 5100 acres. The airport is located around 15 kilometers from the New Delhi Railway Station (H Nizamuddin Station). The city centre is about 16 kilometers from the airport.
The Indira Gandhi International Airport is the busiest airport in India in terms of passenger count and plane traffic. This also includes transport of cargo. The airport handles over 63.4 million passengers, making it the 7th busiest in Asia and the 16th busiest airport in the planet. The air route between Delhi and Mumbai is the third busiest passenger air route across the globe. Another important route is for passengers looking at the New Delhi to Chennai flight schedules.
The Airport Authority of India took charge of the New Delhi airport which was previously handled by the IAF or the Indian Air Force. The airport was open to public use in September 2008. There are three almost parallel runways that are found in the IGIA. The runways are probably not enough, and plans of constructing another runway are on the making. That shows how much traffic the Indira Gandhi International Airport handles daily.
Terminals in the IGIA
- Terminal 1 – IndiGo and SpiceJet use these terminals to handle passengers. This terminal is generally for low cost planes.
- Terminal 1A – A fire gutted this terminal and is no longer in use.
- Terminal 1C – This terminal is used only for domestic arrivals. There are eight belts in the luggage reclaim area.
- Terminal 2 – The Hajj operations first terminal was closed in 2017, and now this terminal is used for the GoAir planes.
- Terminal 3 – A vast, 2-tier building was built and designed by Mott MacDonald. The area occupied by this gigantic terminal is almost 20 acres. The lower floor is for arrivals. The upper floor is intended only for departures. There is nearly 168 check in counters at this terminal. This terminal was inaugurated in 2010 during the Commonwealth Games that was held in New Delhi. Air India, Jet Airways, etc. operates from Terminal 3. These airlines are generally domestic full service airlines.
- Terminals 4, 5, 6 – These terminals will be built in the near future when the traffic at the airport intensifies. The terminal construction shall begin once the fourth runway is completed.
Connectivity
The Indira Gandhi International Airport is connected exceptionally well. The nearest railway station is Palam that is about 18 km from the Delhi Railway Station. There is also a Delhi Airport Metro express that has been designed only to transport passengers to and from the airport to various parts of the mega-city. By road, the airport is connected by the 8-lane Delhi Gurgaon Expressway. The Delhi Transport Corporation has also included bus plying services to and from the airport. There are many low floor buses that have an AC facility. Taxis ply from terminals 3 and 1C, these are metered and will take you anywhere across the city.
