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A terminal with runways capable of handling
the A-380 and Boeing 787 has become operative
months ahead of the Commonwealth Games here. Built
by the GMR Group, which operates the airport,
its big infrastructure has been completed on time
and with high international standards, drawing
praise from Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh,
who inaugurating the terminal recently.
“An airport is often the first introduction to
a country, and a good airport such as this would
signal our joining the ranks of industrialised
nations of the world. It also proved the success
of the public-private partnership model for big
infrastructure projects, Dr Manmohan Singh said,
noting that some 58 government departments were
involved.”
National Advisory Council (NAC) Chairperson Sonia
Gandhi, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel,
and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.
The new terminal can cater to 34 million passengers
annually. The shiny steel and glass terminal has
over 20,000 sq meters of retail area, including
a large food court. It can handle 12,800 pieces
of baggage per hour, and has 6.4 km of conveyor
belts and a multi-layer parking facility that
can accommodate 4,300 cars.
A unique feature is a 100-room transit hotel
in the international departure area.
The airport has lounges on the first floor, airline
offices on the second and the hotel on the third.
T3 is barrier-free to suit requirements of passengers
with special needs or reduced mobility.
“Today is a very special occasion for our country.
We are all very happy and indeed very proud of
the completion of our one of the world’s largest
airport terminals in a record time of 37 months.
This airport terminal establishes new global bench
marks. It also exemplifies our country’s resolve
to bridge and bridge fast enough the infrastructure
deficit in our country,” Dr Singh said while dedicating
the terminal to the people of India.
“T3 is not just a building, it is a statement
and the cost to build the T3 was higher than estimated,
but people should not mind paying the special
airport usage fee and toll tax,” said Civil Aviation
Minister Praful Patel.
“The aviation sector is a vital to India’s sustained
economic growth. It plays a major role in generating
tourist flow, accelerating industrial development,
creating new jobs and integrating our country.
In a span of a few years, India has become the
9th largest aviation market in the world. We now
have 10 scheduled airlines operating in our country,
compared to 2 in 1990. In the same period, the
scheduled aircraft deployed by the Indian carriers
has gone up four times, from 100 to about 400,”
he added.
It is estimated that India’s aviation sector
has the potential to absorb up to US$ 120 billion
of investment by the year 2020.
 Analysts
predict that domestic traffic can reach 160 to
180 million and international traffic in excess
of 50 million by the year 2020. The airport’s
developers include infrastructure major GMR Group,
the state-run Airports Authority of India, construction
giant Larsen &Toubro, Fraport of Germany, Malaysian
Airport Holding, Siemens and numerous other big,
medium and small enterprises.
AAI, which is exclusively responsible for managing
the 2.8 million square NM Indian airspace, controls
all airborne operations, including to and from
Delhi. Having anticipated the growth in traffic
at Delhi airport, especially after the new terminal
buildings coming up, AAI took timely action to
enhance the Air Traffic Management facilities.
There is also the Automation Tooling System (ATS)
to facilitate capabilities like Arrival Manager,
Medium Term Conflict Alert (MTCA), Minimum Safe
Altitude Warning (MSAW}, Short Term Conflict Alert
(STCA} and Remote Monitoring.
Reduction of horizontal separation to 50 NM
from 80 NM has been planned.
Performance Based Navigation (PBN) procedures
have been implemented at Delhi, allowing structured
flow of traffic and thereby increasing its capacity
and improving safety levels. There is also the
Airport Surface Movement Guidance and Control
System [ASMGCS] to improve ground safety, and
help in conducting safe Cat II & Cat III operations
at the airport.
The Ground-Based Augmentation System (GBAS) has
been planned for Delhi airport by the year end.
The GBAS Station is able to support multiple runway
ends. Flight Inspection and maintenance requirements
is reduced compared to the traditional Instrument
Landing System (ILS).
GBAS is a safety-critical system that augments
the GPS Standard Positioning Service (SPS) and
provides enhanced levels of service. It supports
all phases of approach, landing, departure, and
surface operations within its area of coverage.
GBAS is expected to play a key role in maintaining
existing all-weather operations capability at
CAT I, II and III airports. GBAS CAT-I is seen
as a necessary step towards the more stringent
operations of CAT-II/III precision approach and
landing.
The Delhi airport will have a new format of the
Flight Plan (FPL) by 15 November 2012 as per the
International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)
Regional Plan. It is designed to meet the needs
of aircraft with advanced capabilities and the
evolving requirements of automated Air traffic
Management systems. With this, an operator will
be able to submit FPL 120 hrs in advance instead
of 24 hrs.
On the anvil are plans to operationalise the
Indian SBAS for Global Navigation satellite system
by 2013, which is being developed jointly by AAI
and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
This will facilitate seamless operations through
direct ATS routes and User Preferred Routes (UPRs)
without using ground based Nav-aids.
The airport will benefit in the coming years
from the GAGAN (GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation)
project that would help seamless tracking and
communication between aircraft and ground control
over the airspace in India and adjoining countries
in accordance with ICAO directives.
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