It is a tale of a flip-flop to save resources. Delhi Airport, which is the country’s busiest airport, had seen an uptick in flights last year, enough to open up the old Terminal 2 and move some traffic there, is now witnessing a downtrend in traffic, and hence, cutting operations again.Delhi Airport Terminal 3 – Source: Wikipedia
Delhi Airport to close Terminal 2 on May 17, 2021
Delhi International Airport Ltd has announced that it will temporarily close Terminal 2 operations on account of falling passenger loads from May 17, 2021, 11:59 PM onwards. IndiGo and GoAir, which are the only two airlines operating from Terminal 2, will move their flights to Terminal 3.
The overall operations for Indian aviation are trending downwards. Week 1 of May 2021 saw only 6,34,000 passengers take a domestic flight, which is one-third of the April 2021 number. On an overall basis, on May 10, 2021, only 961 domestic flights operated, which is the first time since August 2020 that flight numbers have gone down below 1,000. In the good times pre-pandemic, over 2,000 flights would operate across India.
Delhi Airport is getting only 30-40K daily passengers now, as compared to over 200K back in March 2019. Delhi Airport’s move follows Mumbai Airport, which mid-April 2021, consolidated its operations at Terminal 2.
IndiGo has already confirmed the move.