India’s 1st pvt jet terminal to open in Delhi this month
NEW DELHI: India’s first general aviation terminal for private jets is set to become operational in New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, according to officials familiar with the matter. The facility promises faster turnaround of business jets and chartered planes, shielding them from the clutter of general passenger terminals, where they now compete for taxiing slots with commercial flights.
Delhi International Airport Limited, which operates Indira Gandhi International Airport, said it is working towards the commissioning of the terminal soon to support the movement of passengers flying on chartered flights from the airport.
“It is the first such independent facility at any Indian airport to handle general aviation passengers. While the new terminal will be commissioned as an interim facility it will be equipped with state-of-the-art features and facilities including world class passenger lounges, retail, food and beverage [outlets] etc.,” DIAL said in a statement in response to queries from HT. An official from the airport said the terminal may be operational as early as by the end of July. It is meant to be replaced by a larger facility in the future. “The terminal has been designed in such a manner that it will have parking space for a maximum 65 jets of all sizes...the terminal also has the capacity to handle a maximum of 150 business jet movements a day. The average movement capacity of the terminal is 75 jets per day. This makes it a general aviation terminal with the highest capacity in entire south
Asia,” said a second Delhi airport official who requested anonymity.
The terminal has been built at a cost of ~150 crore over oneand-a-half years by Bird Execujet Airport Services Private Limited, a joint venture between Bird Group and Execujet Aviation Group, an international business aviation company based at Zurich Airport in Switzerland. A spokesperson for the company said construction work commenced on January 1, 2019. “In between, we faced a Supreme Court ban on construction activities owing to pollution in Delhi for three months. Then lockdown also hampered our work. However, we have been able to complete the project by June 2020,” it said.
Before the national lockdown was first imposed in March to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease, around 1,300 scheduled flights operated from Delhi airport every day and an additional 40-50 small nonscheduled chartered or private planes also landed at and take off from the airport daily.
While private aircraft will still have to compete for take-off and landing slots with commercial flights, a Delhi airport official said that the new terminal will cut time , “because runway 29/11 -- the largest in Delhi -- is closer to the new terminal, and this will make taxiing time of these private aircraft significantly shorter”. He added that the shorter distance between the terminal building and flight boarding point will also make the process of boarding quicker and less cumbersome.
Several VIPS prefer to travel in private jets and all their aircraft movements take place from Terminal 1, which has been operating beyond its capacity and is currently undergoing expansion, the airport official cited above said. Kanika Tekriwal, CEO and founder, Jetsetgo Aviation, one of the firms that offers private jet services at Delhi airport, said the charges for hiring a private jet vary, depending upon size of aircraft and length of trip. “They start at ~80,000 per hour for an eight seater turbo-prop and go all the way to ~ 5-6 lakh per hour for a 16-seater jet. Added to which there are airport and other landing charges,” she said. Kapil Kaul, CEO and director of CAPA South Asia, an aviation advisory and research firm, said he expects an international standard general aviation terminal in Delhi to help increase corporate jet penetration in India.