India inaugurated its largest airport terminal on 3 July in the capital Delhi, marking another milestone in the country's efforts to become an international aviation hub that will spur jet fuel demand
The new terminal, also known as T3, at the Indira Gandhi international airport cost nearly $3bn and spans 500,000m². It can handle up to 34mn passengers a year, which more than doubles the airport's previous capacity. Actual operations are to begin later this month, with international and domestic flights starting on 14 July and 30 July respectively.
The terminal has been hailed by industry sources as a strategic game-changer in India's aviation industry. T3's massive capacity will allow Delhi airport to better serve the country's booming civil aviation sector. The number of domestic passengers had been growing by double-digit figures, and is expected to grow by more than fourfold to 180mn by 2020.
T3 is also India's first terminal where domestic and international flights are integrated at a single airport, reducing the inconvenience switching between domestic and international flights. This will allow Delhi to better compete with other aviation hubs such as Dubai for connecting flights. Many Indian passengers travelling to Europe transit in Dubai because of the poor integration between domestic and international flights at Indian airports, analysts said.
Indian carrier Kingfisher Airlines and other domestic airlines such as Jet Airways and Air India have already said they will move their domestic services to T3 at the end of the month.
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