With a large number of aircraft on order and being inducted in India at the moment (approximately 700 aircraft in service and 2.5 times on order), India and its airlines need a tonne of new airports and aerodromes to be able to fly these aircraft across the country. Airport construction and expansion are in full swing, and over the weekend, the Government of India inaugurated a dozen airports/expanded airport terminals in one go.

12 Airport Terminals inaugurated in one go

The government of India launched twelve airport projects across India in one go on Sunday, March 10, 2024. Indian Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi pressed the button to virtually inaugurate the twelve airport projects in one go. The event was held at Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh.

Apart from the twelve airport terminals, which will go live over the next few weeks, the Government of India has also launched building work on three airport terminals: Kadapa Airport, Hubballi Airport, and Belagavi Airport.

Airport Projects Launched Across India

Here are the twelve airport projects launched across India over the weekend.

Delhi Airport Terminal 1 (DEL)

Delhi Airport’s Terminal 1 was the Terminal of choice for the no-frill carriers, who were asked to move their operations partly to Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 while an expanded T1 was constructed. The expansion project has effectively doubled Terminal 1’s capacity, allowing it to accommodate 40 million passengers annually. The new T1 building also integrates the Arrival and Departure terminals.

All entry gates have Facial Recognition System (Digi Yatra), 20 Automated Tray Retrieval Systems (ATRS), Individual Carrier System (ICS), 108 Common Usage Self Service (CUSS) and 100 check-in counters, including 36 Self Baggage Drop (SBD) kiosks, according to airport operator DIAL.

While the inauguration of the airport has already been completed, it will be taken live in May 2024, as per the CEO of Delhi Airport, Videh Kumar Jaipuriar.

Lucknow Airport Terminal 3 (LKO)

At Lucknow Airport, an integrated terminal was also inaugurated, named Terminal 3. It can handle 4,000 passengers during peak hours and will serve domestic and international flights. In the first phase, Terminal 3 will be able to handle 8 million passengers per annum. The second phase will add another 5 million capacity (a total of 13 million). Terminal 3 has 72 check-in counters (including 17 for self-baggage drop) and 62 immigration counters (27 emigration counters and 35 arrival immigration counters).

Here is a video put out by Adani Airport Holdings showcasing the new airport terminal

Aligarh (HRH), Azamgarh (AZH), Chitrakoot (CWK), Moradabad (MZS), and Shravasti (VSV) Airports

The Aligarh Airport will currently be able to connect with a 19-seater airport, and if the airport is able to acquire more land along the way, they will expand it to have narrowbody aircraft such as the A320 and Boeing 737 operate from the airport as well in the future. Flybig, the regional operator with Twin Otters in its fleet, will operate between Lucknow and Aligarh using the 19-seater aircraft.

The Azamgarh, Chitrakoot, Moradabad and Shravasti Airports were all existing government airstrips upgraded to an airport. At the moment, these airports can operate up to 19-seater aircraft. Flybig will connect these airports using its Twin Otters with Lucknow and amongst each other.

Pune Airport (PNQ) and Kolhapur Airport (KLH)

Pune did not get a new airport, as the city has long deserved and wished for, but it received a new airport terminal, at least. This terminal will be magnitudes of order better than the old terminal, where there is hardly any space for the volume the airport currently serves. The new terminal was inaugurated yesterday; however, it will be pressed into service about a month later. The new terminal has 30+ check-in counters and will be able to serve over 3000 passengers daily.

On the same day, Kolhapur Airport also received a new terminal. Kolhapur is the home of regional airline StarAir, which operates Embraer jets.

Gwalior (GWL) and Jabalpur (JLR) airports
The new Gwalior Airport terminal is over 20,000 square metres and can handle 1400 passengers at peak hours, three times more than the old airport.

The new Jabalpur terminal building has a capacity to handle 500 passengers during peak hours. The terminal also has three aerobridges, an advanced baggage screening system and car parking for more than 250 cars and buses.

Bottomline

There is a massive upswing in investments for airports and other aviation facilities around India, and this is just the first sight of things to come. It is important to note that the first step is to add aviation connectivity and then grow the airports into bigger terminals. Five of the UP terminals are actually upgrades on erstwhile airstrips and add a building on top for passenger operations. If they see good demand for the 19-seater aircraft (which is itself a small niche in India), then bigger aircraft can pick it up from there.

What do you make of the capacity expansion across India in terms of civil aviation facilities?

---

Liked our articles and our efforts? Please pay an amount you are comfortable with; an amount you believe is the fair price for the content you have consumed. Please enter an amount in the box below and click on the button to pay; you can use Netbanking, Debit/Credit Cards, UPI, QR codes, or any Wallet to pay. Every contribution helps cover the cost of the content generated for your benefit.

(Important: to receive confirmation and details of your transaction, please enter a valid email address in the pop-up form that will appear after you click the ‘Pay Now’ button. For international transactions, use Paypal to process the transaction.)

We are not putting our articles behind any paywall where you are asked to pay before you read an article. We are asking you to pay after you have read the article if you are satisfied with the quality and our efforts.