IGI AIRPORT’S TERMINAL 1 LIKELY TO BE REOPENED FROM MARCH 25

NEW DELHI: The Terminal 1 (T1) of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi international airport will resume domestic flight operations starting March 25, according to officials privy to the development.

Airport officials said only a portion of the terminal will be made operational for now, as the ongoing expansion work of the building will continue. For now, the terminal will cater to approximately half the number of flights it handled before the pandemic-induced lockdown.

Officials in the know of the matter said the decision to reopen T1 was taken because of the increasing domestic flight operations in the country. Confirming the development, Sachin Badshah, deputy inspector general of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which secures the airport, said a decision had been taken to open T1 starting March 25.

“Earlier it was decided that the terminal will be made operational from March 28. However, the date has been preponed to March 25. CISF will have its adequate arrangements as required. Even when the terminal was closed completely, because of the ongoing expansion work, our staff was deployed throughout to secure the facility,” Badshah said.

The domestic terminal was shut last year on March 25, two days after international flight operations were suspended due to the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.

After two months, as air operations in the country resumed, on May 25, only Terminal 3 was opened. Later, Terminal 2 resumed functioning on October 1. Terminal 1, however, has remained shut due to the ongoing expansion work.