The three budget airlines— InterGlobe Aviation-run IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir – and GMR Infrastructure-controlled Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (DIAL) will meet Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey on July 31 to resolve the impasse arising out of no airline willing to shift to terminal T2 of the Delhi airport, according to an official with one of the carriers.
July 15 was the deadline for the airline companies to resolve among themselves on shift to the terminal.
DIAL wants one or more of these airlines to shift their operations to T2 in order to undertake expansion of T1. As per the agreement signed between the airlines and the airport operator, DIAL has the right to ask any airline to shift its operations.
Low-cost carriers use T1, also called the domestic airport, for all their local and international flights from and to Delhi. The Delhi airport currently has three terminals with T3 being used by full service local carriers for both their domestic and international flights.
International airlines as well as their Indian units like that of AirAsia also use T3. T2 is currently being used mostly to operate Haj flights.
The expiry of the July 15 deadline is among the several given to the airlines that have lapsed but this one was most crucial, coming, as it did, close to the time when the operator and the airlines too need to start planning for the winter schedule that starts September 29 this time.
Airlines are reluctant to shift their operations to T2 due to higher cost of operations there.
“Normally, there’s a half-hour lag between one landing and a take-off. The same operation at T2 will increase the interval by 15 minutes. This will reduce plane utilization and increase fuel costs. No airline, on its own, would like to walk into that scenario unless adequately incentivised,” an official with one of the low-cost carriers had told Moneycontrol earlier.
It was hoped that either IndiGo or Spicejet would shift its operations to T2 with the other two staying at T1. GoAir alone shifting was not expected to help matters as the airline still runs comparatively much smaller operations. Now with none agreeing to shift, DIAL is faced with two options.
One of the two options could be to ask all three airlines to shift a certain percentage of their operations to T2, according to an official with another low-cost carrier. The other could be to simply reserve T1 for select destinations while assigning other routes to T2, irrespective of the airline.
All options are fraught with complications related to marketing of seats, passenger convenience and communication from the airlines to flyers, particularly in cases where tickets are already booked.
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