Domestic flights yet to take off from T3

Operations likely to begin at the newest terminal of Delhi airport only from November 14

Blame it on Diwali. Anticipating great rush around this cracker of a festival, the government has decided to postpone the shifting of domestic carriers to the new terminal at the Delhi airport till November 14. The shifting has been deferred for the third consecutive time.



Domestic operations by Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher airlines along with their low cost arms will now start on November 14. The domestic operations which were initially to start on July 31 were postponed to August 27 due to Commonwealth Games, erratic power supply and an incomplete underpass, primarily connecting Dwarka. Later on it was again shifted to October 30 for the same reasons. Government sources said, the ministry was told that Delhi Metro's Airport Line Express could only be commissioned by the middle of November.

The integration of Dwarka underpass, being done by the DDA, and northern access being executed by DMRC was expected to be completed by the end of this month. Both Metro and road connectivity would only become available by first week of November, the spokesperson said.

Official sources said Home Ministry's security clearance to the airport Metro line would be given only after the Reliance-led consortium takes additional measures to beef up security.

The road and Metro connectivity are required to have trial operations and simulations to ensure smooth traffic flow, which is expected to be over only by mid-November. "The traffic was expected to increase during Diwali and present approaches were not adequate to handle the pressure," the official said. The decision was taken in a meeting by Civil Aviation Secretary, M Madhavan Nambiar.