G20 Summit: Delhi airport to have dedicated corridor for delegates

Delhi airport will have dedicated gates and a dedicated corridor to ensure seamless immigration clearance for G20 delegates, and a team of senior officials will monitor arrival and departure operations related to the summit.

Ahead of the G20 Summit, which will be held in the national capital on September 9 and 10, Delhi airport operator DIAL on Wednesday said there are a required number of parking slots for VVIP aircraft, and that most of the guests for the summit will be coming by chartered flights or special VIP flights.

"While many of the guests will be arriving at Air Force Station on the Palam side, there are many other heads of states as well as other delegation members who are going to come at Terminal-3. We have made special arrangements for them," DIAL CEO Videh Kumar Jaipuriar said in a message.

There will be dedicated gates and a dedicated corridor for the G20 delegates so that they can clear the immigration and customs in a seamless manner, he added.

He also said there will be no inconvenience for the normal passengers amid the summit.

Meanwhile, airlines are offering a waiver of charges for passengers planning to reschedule their travel dates as scores of flights are likely to be affected during the four days from September 8 in connection with the summit.

The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), operated by DIAL, in the national capital is the country's largest airport and handles around 1,300 flights daily. DIAL is a consortium led by the GMR Group.

While noting that it has meticulously organised a range of provisions at the airport for the delegates, the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) has "formed a team of senior officials who will monitor G20 arrival and departure operations to ensure the best experience for the arriving delegates".

The airport operator is working with different government departments like the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and the Delhi Government to provide necessary support for guest facilities, according to a release.

Jaipuriar said that most of the guests for the summit will be coming by chartered flights or by special VIP flights.

Arrangements have been made for parking these flights on the air side in collaboration with different government agencies like Delhi Police as well as with the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, he said and added that the airport has made available the required number of parking slots for the VVIP aircraft.

"We have these guests arriving on September 8th and most of the day guests are likely to leave on September 10th.

"There are going to be some disruptions as far as traffic on the city side is concerned, and that is where our advice to the travellers taking a flight from Delhi or coming to Delhi to make sure that they use the mode of transportation not as a car or a taxi, but they should prefer metro to actually travel to and from the airport," Jaipuriar said.

He also noted that there are enough arrangements at the airport and so there will be no inconvenience that the normal passengers will feel at the airport.

Standees and cutouts have been set up featuring information about the summit to passengers.

For the summit, artistic designer fountains, sculptures, and decorative flowerpots have been installed along the adjacent roads of the airport, the release said.

Among others, the terminals have been adorned with impactful hoardings, it added.

On August 26, DIAL said it has received requests from airlines for the cancellation of 80 departing and as many arriving domestic flights during three days from September 8 in connection with the summit.