Delhi Airport: Airside Transfer Approval Awaited

New Delhi, Jun 1 (PTI) Delhi airport operator DIAL is awaiting the final approval from aviation security watchdog BCAS for facilitating airside transfer of passengers between Terminal 1 and 3, whereby the average time taken for the transfer is expected to be 25 minutes, according to an official.

The plan, which is in the works for sometime, has undergone modifications, and recently, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has worked out the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the same.

The airport, which handles around 2.25 lakh domestic and international passengers in a day, is operated by the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL).

The official on Monday said the airside passenger transfer facility between T1 and T3 would be available for D to I (Domestic to International) and I to D (International to Domestic) passengers, and initially, only for those having connecting flights on the same booking or a single PNR (Passenger Name Record).

Around 26 per cent of the passengers at the airport are transfer passengers, which means they take a connecting flight.


There are three terminals at the airport -- T1, T2 and T3 -- out of them, international operations are only there at T3.

The plan for the airside passenger transfer between the terminals has been finalised by a committee that included representatives from the CISF, BCAS (Bureau of Civil Aviation Security), Customs Department and IB (Intelligence Bureau), among others, the official said.

Now, the plan, which was submitted one to one-and-a-half months ago, is awaiting final nod from BCAS, the official said and added that once the facility is operational, passengers would be transferred from one terminal to another by electric buses.

Under the plan, the average transfer time is anticipated to be around 25 minutes.

T1 and T3 are some distance apart, and passengers have to travel by road from one terminal to the other.

The national capital's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) handles more than 1,300 aircraft movements daily.