The entire design of Delhi airport is in the hands of GMR and its joint venture.
One person died after the roof of Terminal 1 of Indira Gandhi International Airport collapsed. All flights have been cancelled from the terminal. Officials are busy making arrangements. The Aviation Minister arrived at the spot and took note of the situation. Actually, the history of Delhi Airport is quite old. But do you know when the government came up with the idea of ​​handing over this airport to private hands? Which GMR company is being talked about during this accident? Why is it taking care of this entire airport alone? After all, what kind of role has GMR played in the construction of Delhi IGI Airport? We will try to give you answers to all these questions. The special thing is that after this accident, the shares of GMR Airports fell by 3.50 percent.
When the idea of ​​building another terminal began
Both T1 and T2 collapsed in the 2000s. Passenger pressure was increasing at both terminals. T1 handled more than 45 percent of its capacity passengers. With the need for more modern facilities, T2 also began to fill up quickly. Two decades after the construction of the second terminal, in view of the increasing passenger pressure at the airport, the need was felt to further upgrade the airport with another terminal. When T2 opened in 1986, it was used only for international flights.
This is how GMR came in
Now it was the turn to invite private companies to build Terminal 3. In such a situation, GMR Group formed a consortium. Which included GMR airport, Fraport, Airports Authority of India. This joint venture was called DIAL. This joint venture had approved a budget of Rs 8,975 crore for the entire airport project. When this entire project was completed in the year 2010, Rs 12,857 crore had been spent. GMR’s share in this joint venture stands at 64 per cent. While AAI’s share is 26 percent and Fraport’s is 10 percent.
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I win a lot of prizes
Led by the joint venture, T3 has the capacity to serve 34 million passengers every year. However, this capacity is much less compared to other major airports globally. Even after that, this capacity is much better than the capacity of T1 and T2. After T3 was started, T2 was closed for renovation. All international flights started taking off from T3. Apart from international services, select airlines including Air India also transferred their domestic operations to T3. Terminal 3 has won numerous awards for its service and design, enhancing its global image as a hub.
What kind of problems are there?
While IGI Airport may be one of the best airports in South Asia, it also faces many challenges. One major issue is related to inter-terminal connectivity. There is no air connectivity between Terminals 1, 2 and 3. This means that passengers will have to clear immigration to board most domestic flights. Even if one opts to skip immigration, inter-terminal transportation is quite limited.
T2 and T3 are very close, it takes 15 minutes to get to T1 on a normal day and longer on traffic days. Without centralized airport planning and construction, Delhi is struggling to provide the easy connectivity available at other airports globally.
fall in the company’s shares
After this accident, GMR Airport shares have suffered a drop of up to three and a half percent. According to BSE data, it reached the lowest level of Rs 95.74 with a decline of 3.52 percent. Currently, at 2:50 pm, the company’s shares are trading at Rs 97.33, down around two per cent. However, the company’s shares closed at Rs 99.23 the previous day and opened at Rs 99.50 on Friday. Currently, the market capitalization of the company is Rs 58,602.99 crore.
