After a four-month long legal battle, IndiGo Airlines and SpiceJet have finally agreed to abide by Delhi International Airport Ltd's (DIAL) directive to partially shift their operations to Terminal-2 (T2) with effect from March 25. India's largest airline in terms of market share announced on its website that from March 25, flight numbers 6E2000 to 6E2999 will operate from T2.
A whopping 102 IndiGo flights have been shifted out, including flights connecting the capital to smaller cities like Bagdogra, Visakhapatnam, Udaipur, Vadodara and Srinagar. Basically, IndiGo has prefixed '2' to all flights that have been shifted out to make it easier for passengers. For instance, flight 6E 273 from Delhi to Bangalore has now become 6E 2273 and Chennai-Delhi flight 6E 3752 has changed to 6E 2752.
Just a day ago, SpiceJet had announced that it will shift 22 flights serving seven domestic sectors - Cochin, Ahmedabad, Patna, Pune, Goa, Surat, and Gorakhpur - out of Terminal-1 (T1) of the Indira Gandhi International airport to T2. The airline said that all its remaining domestic flights will continue to operate from T1.
In a statement SpiceJet explained that all the flights operating to and from T2 will boast a four-digit flight number starting with number '8', say, SG 8913, to "facilitate smooth, uninterrupted operations and easier identification for passengers". Furthermore, to minimise customer inconvenience, arrangements have been made for a regular bus service between T1 and T2 for use by transit passengers as well as those who might go to the wrong terminal to catch their flight. "All communication mediums have been activated to keep the passengers travelling from T2 informed about the change of terminal," added the release.
To remind you, in October 2017, Delhi International Airport Ltd's (DIAL) had directed GoAir, SpiceJet and IndiGo airlines, which were operating from T1, to shift their flights connecting Delhi to Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru to T2 from the first week of the new year. This was on account of the Rs 16000 crore-upgradation in process at T1 to better handle the mushrooming traffic - DIAL plans to increase the capacity of T1 from 20 million annually to 40 million by 2021.
While GoAir was quick to comply - it shifted its entire operations to T2 in late October last year - the other two low-cost carriers had unsuccessfully moved court accusing DIAL of acting unreasonably and claiming that such a partial move would inconvenience their passengers. SpiceJet finally yielded after the Delhi High Court last month upheld its single-judge order accepting DIAL's decision. IndiGo had continued the fight but had to capitulate after the Supreme Court denied its appeal three weeks ago.
Not that the new terminal is any less than T1 and T3 in terms of infrastructure. Last year, T2 had been given a Rs 100 crore facelift after being mothballed since mid-2010, when international operations got shifted to the newly-built T3. Post renovations, T2 is geared to handle as many as 12 million passengers annually, up from 9 million.
So, in the near term at least, passengers flying out from here are in for treat - fewer crowds, shorter queues, more comfort and less frustration. The bad news is that the chances of missing a flight may increase during the transition period as the distance between T1 and T2 is around seven kilometres.
With agency inputs