The civil aviation ministry has asked three budget airlines to decide among themselves on the issue of shifting their operations to Terminal 2 at the Delhi airport.
To ease congestion in the wake of rising passenger numbers, there is a proposal to shift flight operations from Terminal 1 (T1) to Terminal 2 (T2) but there is no consensus between the airlines concerned and the aerodrome operator.
At a stakeholders' meeting held last week, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir were told that the Ministry would not "force upon" them any decision on shifting operations to another terminal, a source said.
According to the source, the airlines would have to come up with a solution and one month's time has been given to them.
IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir operate flights from T1.
Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the joint venture firm which runs the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport, plans to expand the existing terminal to a much bigger facility.
There are two operational terminals at the airport here -- T1 and T3.
While T1 has a rated capacity for 20 million passengers a year, the number of passengers passing through that terminal is around 24 million.
Against this backdrop, DIAL wants the carriers to shift operations to the refurbished T2.
International flights used to operate from T2 before the commissioning of the existing swanky Terminal 3 (T3).
"The Ministry has asked the airlines to decide among themselves whether they want to shift entire operations or partial operations. It has also asked the airlines to take a call on sector-specific operations as well," the source said.
Many rounds of meetings have been held between the stakeholders, including the Ministry, but a final decision is yet to be taken.
A senior Ministry official said available choices are difficult ones but a final call need to be taken in the next few months.
According to sources, the airlines are opposed to relocating operations to T2 on the ground that there "are no extra facilities like additional parking bays or slots created by the private airport operator."
However, a ministry official said the airlines could be incentivised with some additional slots but that is "work in progress."
As per initial plans, SpiceJet and GoAir were told to relocate their operations to T2 from January 1 this year.
However, the two airlines refused to oblige on the ground that IndiGo was being allowed to continue from the same terminal, forcing the DIAL to defer a decision on shifting the flights' operations.
In mid-January, DIAL wrote to the three airlines with a new plan, under which the three airlines were told to shift their Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru flights to T2 from February 15. However, the proposal did not materialise.
As per the master plan for the Delhi airport that was approved by the Ministry last year, existing T1 area would be increased to 1,33,000 sqm from the present 53,000 sqm and it would be able to handle 23 million passengers.
Among others, 10 aerobridges would be constructed while the number of boarding gates would be increased to 25 from 8.
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