Air trains are about to fancy things up for Delhi travellers. For the first time ever in India, air trains are about to take over traffic burdens at an airport. That’s not the only first for Delhi airport this season. It’s also about to become India’s first airport with four runways. That’s right, Terminal 4 is set to be inaugurated by 2025! India Might Get 100 New Airports By 2024
What’s going on
Delhi airport is undergoing a major makeover. That might mean you need to get to the airport a little sooner than you’d like for a while. Terminal 1 is getting an expansion. The completion target has been set for June 2022. The country’s biggest airport will see an estimated 10 crore passengers once all this is set in place. Currently, passengers make inter-Terminal travel via buses which takes 30 minutes per trip. Do you think that will be possible once travellers have many more flights to get to? Neither does Delhi International Airport. Did you know Beijing’s New Starfish Airport Is Officially The World’s Largest Airport?
What is it
Air trains are wildly popular in the world. Major airports like New York’s JFK, London Heathrow, Hong Kong and Zurich provide the facility. It’s Delhi’s turn now. Air trains are an airport facilitated rail service which works exclusively for the airport. The goal is to help ease and speed travel between terminals at Delhi airport. The existing metro lines might be used to start air trains too. Reports state that the plan is to have four stations for the air train: T1, Aerocity, cargo terminal and a common one for T3 and T2/4.
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What’s more
Delhi airport estimates a huge surge in transit traffic by 2022. The airport is already gigantic. Delhi airport was crowned the world’s 9th best airport for up to 7 crore passengers 2019. That reputation is hard to maintain. The airport comes with latest tech and world class standards of cab pick-up and facilities for differently abled people. The duty-free brand management inside the airport is competitive with the best places in the world. All this requires space and that’s what Delhi Airport’s 5,100 acres are for. To make life easier for passengers going from one terminal to the other, air trains are in the cards.
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By 2024, the airport’s capacity is expected to be saturated. This is why the aviation ministry has decided to prepone all these growth plans. Noida is coming to the rescue with another airport for Delhi, twice the size of the original with 8 runways. At least that’s the plan, but land will be have to acquired from innocent farmers and we all know how brutal that is. Delhi already has another airport in Ghaziabad as well. Even though we might have to compromise a little until the renovations are complete, we’re glad the government is taking long-term needs into consideration. We hope the best resolution is agreed upon with the consent of land holders. Meanwhile, Delhi travel is about to get lit. Amp up your own expectations to fit Delhi airport standards too!
First Published: November 29, 2019 11:53 AM