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NEW DELHI: Indian aviation will see its first “super Sunday” on March 10 when PM Modi inaugurates 15 airport projects ahead of the upcoming general elections. These will be a mix of new airports; new and expanded terminals; foundation stone for upcoming airports and other related infra. Delhi Airport’s massively expanded Terminal 1 and Lucknow and Pune Airports’ new terminals will be among the biggest projects to be inaugurated this Sunday.
New terminal buildings will be inaugurated at Pune, Kolhapur, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Delhi, Lucknow, Aligarh, Azamgarh, Chitrakoot, Moradabad, Shravasti and Adampur Airports. Foundation stones for new terminal buildings of Kadapa, Hubballi and Belagavi Airports will be laid by the PM from Azamgarh in UP. This will be the single biggest aviation infra addition in one go.
The 12 new terminals are being developed at a total cost of Rs 8,903 crore and have a combined capacity to serve 6.15 crore passengers annually (CPA). The Airports Authority of India has also undertaken development of three new terminal buildings at Kadapa, Hubballi and Belagavi Airports at the total cost of Rs 908 crore. Once completed, the combined passenger handling capacity of these airports will increase to 95 lakh passengers per annum.
The GMR Group-led Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) had recently said the expanded T1’s capacity will increase from 1.7 CPA to 4.5 CPA. With a combined capacity of almost 11 CPA, Delhi Airport will have the same capacity as the number of passengers handled by the world’s busiest airport – Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport – last year. The expanded T1 is expected to become operational for passengers from second fortnight of April. A few months after operations stabilise in the new terminal, the existing T2 will be shut down for being converted to an all-international airport.
The Adani Group has built a new terminal at Lucknow Airport at a cost of Rs 3,600 crore. Thanks to this, Lucknow Airport’s annual capacity will touch 1.3 CPA, up from the current 43 lakh.
India is now the world’s fastest growing big aviation market. “In FY 2023-24 so far, AAI has operationalised new integrated terminal buildings at Chennai, Port Blair, Surat and Tiruchirappalli airports. The new terminal buildings at Kanpur Airport, Rajkot International Airport, Tezu Airport and Maharishi Valmiki International Airport, Ayodhya Dham were also inaugurated. Foundation stone was laid for New Terminal Buildings in Datia, Udaipur, Jodhpur and Rajahmundry to cater to the future demand,” a senior AAI official said.
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