Delhi airport, Air India close to mega deal

Delhi International Airport Ltd, the consortium operating Delhi airport, is close to signing a mega deal with Air India, which is making the new terminal its operational hub.

The consortium is working out the broad contours of the deal, according to sources close to the negotiations. A DIAL spokesperson said he was not aware of the development and AI's spokesperson declined to comment.  

The sources said DIAL was expected to offer AI a discount of 20 to 30 per cent on airport charges, on a commitment that the carrier would increase the number of its passengers there to 3,000 an hour, a four to five-fold increase from the current numbers, within two years. The airport charges include landing and takeoff charges, parking, usage of aerobridges and usage of airport terminal, among others.

AI has also committed to go in for a three-fold increase in its deployment of flights in and out of Delhi, from 480 a day to 1,200, starting from the next summer schedule. Currently, AI operates a little over 800 flights a day across the network.

These translate to AI bringing 10-13 million passengers annually at the airport's new Terminal 3, a third of its annual handling capacity of 34 million passengers.

AI will initially get nine dedicated aerobridges of the 78 in operation and 56 check-in counters of the total of 168.

"DIAL, along with us, plans to do a joint marketing campaign to bring more passengers to the airport," said an AI official, who did not want to be identified.

He explained that people from Nepal, for instance, go to Dubai to take a flight for US or European destinations. If Delhi offers that service, people would come here to take the connecting flight.

International operations at the new terminal start from July 25 and domestic operations from August 27.

However, the low-cost carriers will shift to the new terminal only by March next year. DIAL, a consortium led by the Bangalore-based GMR Group and comprising Airports Authority of India, Fraport AG and Eraman Malaysia, built the new terminal at a cost of Rs 12,700 crore in over three years.