Passage to India: Delhi's Air Travel Boom

posted: 28 February 2008 11:39 am ET

: International air travel to India, and to Delhi in particular, is growing very fast. In keeping with this trend, Air India is now discussing with Munich Airport a plan to launch services between Munich and Delhi. Credit: Boeing Photo
: Delhi-Indira Gandhi International Airport's new Terminal 3, planned for completion in 2010, will be able to handle 27 million passengers a year. Credit: Delhi International Airport Limited

The world’s major airlines have traditionally converged on Delhi, the crowded heart of India. But the city that was once the centre of the Moghul empire and has constantly struggled to cope with demand generated through international tourism and business now faces an even bigger challenge. It needs to meet the additional demands of India’s seemingly inexorable rise to the status of global industrial powerhouse.

India is one of the world’s fastest growing economies, but growth within its aviation sector is climbing even higher, reaching around 25 percent over the last few years, and projections suggest it will continue to maintain a healthy acceleration in the coming decade, reports Routes News.

A major source of this growth is Delhi-Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL), where traffic throughput of nearly 20.5 million passengers makes it India’s second busiest airport after Mumbai-Chhatrapati Shivaji, although it is expected to be number one by 2011.

DEL is served by around 80 airlines, connecting more than 120 destinations across India and the globe. These figures are rising as airlines boost their Delhi services, and carriers remain optimistic that the appeal of their expanded operations will be enhanced by DEL’s modernisation, undertaken by operator Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL).

“It is DIAL’s aim to transform Delhi Airport into the show window of India and also contribute to the growth of the region’s economy,” said DIAL spokesperson Arun Arora.

$2 billion expansion program

A new runway and terminal costing $2 billion will be ready to cater to growing traffic levels in 2008, handling 37 million passengers per annum and 75 aircraft movements per hour, with the ultimate capacity goal of 100 million passengers yearly.

DEL’s new Terminal 3 will handle 90 percent of all its passenger traffic via aerobridges by 2010, with six of these aerobridges being compatible with aircraft the size of the A380.

In 2010, all international and full service domestic carriers will operate from Terminal 3, while Terminal 1 is redeveloped as an exclusive low-cost terminal. Low-cost airlines would then move into the new terminal complex, after which another runway will be built and the existing second runway will be realigned to form a fourth parallel runway.

These projects should go a long way in improving services for airlines.

“An improved infrastructure definitively helps to boost business potential. So far, the infrastructure at Delhi has struggled to keep up with the fast growth of civil aviation," pointed out Gregor Koncilja, UK and Ireland country sales manager of Swiss International Air Lines. "Over the last couple of years, huge progress has been made in terms of terminal upgrading and more is still to come.”

Swiss offers a daily non-stop flight between Switzerland and Delhi, with connections via Zurich tailored to the business traveller. “We also offer regular flights to Zurich from London City, Manchester and Birmingham, so that business travellers from all these areas can reach Delhi easily without having to rely on flights via London Heathrow,” explained Koncilja.

Together with its partner Lufthansa, Swiss now offers now three daily flights to Delhi via hubs at Zurich, Munich and Frankfurt and is also beefing up its presence on the ground, with plans to employ local flight attendants there, as it already has on flights between Zurich and Mumbai.

“It’s the rapid growth in this market, India’s strong business significance and the high demand for air services that have prompted us to add Delhi to our network as our second Indian destination,” commented Koncilja, adding that the new route will also offer sizeable potential for tourist traffic from British, Irish and Indian markets.

The Swiss focus on DEL reflects progress already made in enhancing facilities, as well as further planned improvements. Arora points out that, even before the Masterplan was submitted, DIAL started work on modernising existing terminals and the airside infrastructure.

Other airports considering Delhi flight links

With so much work underway at DEL, it seems that airports, as well as airlines, are keeping a close watch on the gateway’s progress.

“We are currently in negotiations with Air India regarding the possible establishment of routes from Munich to India with the airline, and while we have not made any concrete agreements with Delhi airport regarding a new connection, the talks are still underway,” confirmed Erica Gingerich, Munich Airport’s international media relations manager.

For many airlines, decisions to increase service to Delhi are taken in the context of an overall uplift in flights to India. KLM’s 2007/08 winter schedule added two weekly frequencies to Hyderabad, to be gradually introduced throughout the season. Alongside this, KLM also raised its capacity on daily flights to DEL.

India a key destination for airlines

Qatar Airways' CEO, Akbar Al Baker, also confirmed India is a key part of his airline’s growth strategy: “India currently has the most number of destinations -- more than any other country in our network.”

Al Baker applauded the Indian government’s policy of opening up its aviation industry to more domestic and international competition which, he said, was good for the consumer.

The growth of the Indian economy into a potential global powerhouse and Qatar’s drive to spread its economic wings meant increasing air links between the two countries was of paramount importance.

Last October, Japan Airlines also launched daily flights between Tokyo and Delhi, offering a ‘shell flat’ seat to woo business clients. The carrier previously operated four flights per week between the two cities -- a route that was established back in 1965 -- and this then rose to five weekly operations earlier in the year.

British Airways also recently doubled its flights to two daily operations.

Naturally, Indian airlines also want to be a part of DEL’s growth. When Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines took to the skies in 2004, its first flight headed from India’s commercial capital Mumbai to Delhi at dawn. Now, a new era is set to dawn at DEL.