HC TO SPICEJET, INDIGO: ABIDE BY DIAL ORDER, SHIFT OPS TO T2

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Tuesday upheld a single judge order accepting Delhi International Airport Ltd’s (Dial’s ) decision to partially shift the operations of Indigo and Spicejet from Indira Gandhi International airport’s terminal 1 (T1) to terminal 2 (T2).

A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Rekha Palli also turned down Indigo’s suggestion that T1 be dedicated exclusively to its use and Spicejet be asked to move all its operations to T2. The bench said this sprang from Indigo’s own commercial considerations and was not made for the larger public good.

The high court bench’s decision came on pleas by Indigo and Spicejet challenging the single judge’s December 20, 2017 order upholding DIAL’S decision to partially shift the operations of Indigo, Spicejet and Goair from T1 to T2. DIAL’S directions came as a “temporary measure” to renovate T1 and expand its capacity.

On October 21 last year, DIAL had asked the three airlines to shift their flights connecting Delhi to Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru to T2 from January 4. All other flights of the airlines would continue to operate from T1, the airport operator had said.

The court on Tuesday gave a week’s time to both airlines to approach DIAL with suggestions on flights connecting other destinations they would be willing to shift to T2 as long as they collectively met the yardstick of one-third passenger traffic volumes of their operations at T1.