New Delhi, September 29, 2020: After six months of closure, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), led by GMR Group, today announced that the operations at Terminal 2 will begin from October 1. The terminal is all set to provide a safe and healthy environment to passengers flying out of Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA).
The resumption of operations at T2 will be with 96 air traffic movements (48 departures and 48 arrivals) per day and increase progressively up to 180 by end of October. The terminal will resume operations with IndiGo’s 2000 series flights and entire operations of GoAir in the initial phase. About 27 counters – 11 for GoAir and 16 for IndiGo – have been created to cater to the passengers of respective flights. The first flight scheduled from T2 after reopening of this terminal would be Srinagar bound Indigo flight, which will depart at 6:25 AM.
To start with, IndiGo will cater to 20 destinations from T2. These will cater to 20 destinations from T2, including Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Bhopal, Bengaluru, Cochin, Guwahati, Indore, Jammu, Lucknow, Chennai, Patna, Srinagar, Trivandrum, and Visakhapatnam among others. In the next phase, from October 8, 2020, 12 more destinations, including Mumbai, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Goa, Hyderabad, Madurai, Jaipur, and Nagpur, will start operating from T2.
DIAL has taken several safety measures with all key stakeholders to contain the spread of COVID-19, as directed by the Government of India.
“Delhi Airport is all set to reopen for domestic flight operations at T2 after six-months shutdown. We would like to assure passengers that at Delhi airport, they would be in a safe and healthy environment. We have implemented several measures at the airport to ensure passenger safety without compromising their comfort and experience. Our teams have worked round-the-clock to sanitize the vast terminal. DIAL will continue its awareness drive by educating and encouraging passengers to maintain social distance while at the airport,” said Mr. Videh Kumar Jaipuriar, CEO-DIAL.
Commercial operations of domestic and international flights were suspended from March 24, in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus pandemic in the country. The development has come after a successful resumption of Terminal 3 that began operations in a calibrated manner from May 25.
Arrangements at Terminal 2
For the entry into the airport
· 10 Scan & Fly and 3 CUSS kiosks will be available for passengers for web check-in before entering the terminal
· About 10 e-boarding kiosks have been installed at the entry gates to establish a contactless process for boarding
· Arrangements have been made for thermal scanning of passengers as per Government guidelines
At the Check-in
· To avoid close contact and crowding at the counters, passengers are encouraged to use the e-boarding facility
· About 10 e-boarding kiosks have been set up at the entry gates, 8 at the main security hold area (SHA) and 4 at the Express Check-in lane, which would be operational after a few weeks
· The SHA has been expanded to make adequate seating arrangements and retail options
· Alongside, UV Tunnels have been deployed at every dispatch baggage belt in the departure area for sanitization of check-in bags
At the Security check
· Alignment of queues to ensure social distance among CISF personnel and passengers
· Deployment of queue managers, floor markings and allocation of alternate seats, installation of automatic hand sanitizer at various places
· Tray disinfection SOP for passengers’ safety will be maintained
· Auto dispensing sanitizer machines have been kept for passengers to use after security checks
· Contact-less Retail and F&B Options
· After security checks, passengers will move to SHA, where they can access food court, lounges, and retail shops. Social distance markings have been put in food courts, lifts, seats etc.
· Strict & stringent SOP would be maintained for Food and Beverage (F&B) shops, lounges, retail shops to ensure safety and hygiene
· Passengers are encouraged to download HOI app, a dedicated AI-enabled app for Delhi and Hyderabad airports, for contact-less food ordering service
· Passengers can also use the self-ordering kiosk at the food court to avoid queuing. Digital payment and the digital menu would be encouraged to minimize human contact
At the boarding gate
· Passengers are requested not to use seats with cross marks to ensure social distance
· Queue managers would be deployed at boarding & bussing gates
For arriving passengers
· Arrival forecourt has been revamped with the pathway, connecting T2 and T3, widened for transfer passengers and airport express line passengers
· Buggy services will be available for people with reduced mobility (PRM) and senior citizens commuting between T3 and T2
· Social distance markings have been put up at various places inside the terminal. These include aerobridges, piers, lifts, travellators, around baggage belts, all transport waiting areas, etc. Also, the provision of hand sanitizers at the exit of passenger bridges /bus gate arrival area has been made.
· Additional seating arrangement has been made for waiting passengers
· Visitors’ entry into the terminal will remain suspended temporarily
· To encourage compliance of social distancing norms at the airport, DIAL has deployed additional queue managers at kerb side (city side), check-in halls, security check areas and boarding gates, with social distance marks.
· DIAL will encourage all passengers to wear masks and maintain social distance at all times, to ensure their safety and well-being.
Sanitization of high contact surfaces
· Deep cleaning of 45,000 square meter terminal 2 is carried out 24*7. A team of 162 housekeeping personnel have been deployed to ensure a clean and sanitized terminal for passengers round the clock. The staff will be thermally screened and checked for symptoms before going on with their duties.
· Regular sanitization of high contact surfaces, such as desks, chairs, elevators, railings, CUSS, trolleys, handles, trays, baggage belts, etc. inside the terminals would be carried out. Apart from these, washrooms will be closed after every hour to sanitize all its surfaces through both UV tower and regular cleaning.
· The air-conditioning system of all the passenger area inside the terminal is capable of changing the air twice an hour to ensure that the fresh air is inducted regularly. About 150 new air filters have been replaced with the old ones that are kept clean through close monitoring.
· Apart from these, DIAL will also have facilities to isolate suspected COVID-19 passengers at the airport following government direction.
