05 July,2010 08:19 AM IST | | Surender Sharma
Waiting lounges, food joints, and airline offices still on road to completion
The swanky new terminal might have impressed the big bosses in power, but it will take a while before the common man's fantasies can take flight from here. If the airport sources are to be believed, the major portions of T3 terminal is yet to be completed.
Where's everyone? The T3 has been inaugurated but work remains
to be done. Pic/Rajeev Tyagi
In spite of the public opening for the airport on July 14, the basic components like waiting lounges, airline offices, transit rooms and food joints will require some more to be constructed entirely.u00a0u00a0
"A portion of T3, which is to be utilised for commercial use, is yet to be completed. Though the construction of shops is almost complete, the restaurants, waiting lounges will take some time for operation. Initially, only two lounges will opened for commercial operations," said an airport official, wishing anonymity.
Not only this, even the airline offices have not been completed as of now. This will hugely affect the travelers and also the airlines themselves. And the passengers meanwhile will have to look for the option of rest rooms outside the airport, as the transit rooms are too in the process of completion and will be operational only by September, added the official.
As per the DIAL plan, the nine-storey terminal has 20,000 square meters of commercial space and will comprise 100 rooms that include 68 rooms for domestic travelers and 32 for international passengers.
"The portion that will be required for immediate use is complete, but the leftover operations are still underway. The commercial operations will not be affected in any way," said a DIAL official.u00a0
The terminal would commence commercial operations from July 14, 2010 and the transfer of airlines from existing terminals will be carried out in a phased manner. All the international passenger operations will shift from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3 on July 14. While on July 30, Air India, Jet Airways, JetLite, Jet Konnect, Kingfisher and Kingfisher Red will be shift to T3 as well.
| Pehle Bhi... |
| The foundation stone of T3 was laid by Sonia Gandhi in February 2007 and the construction was completed in a span of 37 months. Spread across 5.4 million square feet, the new terminal building is a 9 level building featuring 78 passenger boarding bridges. The conveyor belt of 6,400 meter will be dedicated for automated baggage handling system at T3 terminal, which can handle 12,800 bags in an hour. There will be 168 check-in and 95 immigration counters. Around 3,000 security cameras have been installed on every corner of the airport. The retail area, which includes international brands and food giants, will have their outlets spread across the area of 20,000 sq meters.u00a0u00a0 |
