In mid-2017, Delhi Airport notified the three no-frill carriers (SpiceJet, GoAir and IndiGo) based out of Delhi’s Terminal 1, that on account of Terminal 1 being upgraded for future capacity, they would need to move one-third of their flights out of the terminal and relocate to Terminal 2.
This directive was issued after all the carriers did not come to a consensus about moving to Delhi Terminal 2. So by end of August 2017, they were supposed to notify Delhi Airport (DIAL) about the flights that would move to Terminal 2, and then execute the plan by the end of October.
However, there seemed to be a hiccup. While GoAir, the smallest airline with about 40 aircraft movements out of the Delhi agreed to move fully to Terminal1 and SpiceJet said that if everyone was willing to move they would comply with DIAL’s notice, Indigo did not want to move at all.
They took DIAL to court, where a single-judge bench ruled on December 20, 2017, that Delhi Airport had the rights to move them around since this was a safety issue. IndiGo further went ahead and appealed that decision rather than respect it in the Delhi High Court. On February 13, 2018, the Delhi High Court upheld their single judge order which ratified the Delhi Airport’s decision to partly shift IndiGo and SpiceJet from Terminal 1 to 2.
IndiGo
IndiGo did not give up yet and challenged the Delhi High Court order in the Supreme Court saying that asking a partial shift to T2 was unreasonable as moving only a part of its operations from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 would cause inconvenience and create chaos among passengers. The airline also said that scattered operations will reduce flight options for connecting passengers.
In the petition filed in the High Court, IndiGo had indicated moving SpiceJet fully to Terminal 2 and have Terminal 1 dedicated only for passengers flying IndiGo. The High Court dismissed the suggestion saying that it only fostered IndiGo’s commercial gains.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of India declined to interfere with the High Court’s judgment and has given the airline 25 days to partially shift its operations to Terminal 2.
Terminal 2, Delhi
The airline in its latest press statement said; “IndiGo deferentially accepts the decision of the apex court and shall implement the order in the coming weeks, in close coordination with Delhi International Airport Limited.”
After this partial move to Terminal 2, IndiGo and SpiceJet will be the only two airlines to operate from all the three terminals in Delhi.
This means the implementation of the summer schedule, you will now see the IndiGo Delhi Terminal 2. I’m glad this is now put to rest!
Wonder how much of shareholder money they blew off in the unnecessary legal fight…..hope some institutional shareholders ask them tough questions
I am not surprised by Indigo’s continued legal approach, considering its CEO is also a top legal eagle. Hopefully there would be less hassle for Indigo passengers in Delhi. I hope Indigo has some kind of free transportation available to ferry passengers, who mistakenly arrive at T1 to T3.
@Rocky I think of it as a strategy to buy time. They had no legal standing in front of the Safety argument of DIAL. All the transfers would be handled by the airport anyways.
@Ajay Now that I think of it, you’re right. Would it be better for Indigo to shift its entire operations to T3 (albeit temporarily), rather than run operations at two places?
They would be running at 3 places. They have to move partly from T1 to T2. They already run international ops from T3.