IndiGo, India's biggest airline by market share, had approached the court challenging a Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) decision related to shifting a part of the airline's operations to a new terminal
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea of IndiGo against DIAL's decision to shift a part of its operations from Terminal 1 (T1) to the newly opened Terminal 2 (T2) of the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) here.Justice A.K. Chawla, however, extended till February 15, 2018 the deadline to shift the operation to the new terminal.
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IndiGo, India's biggest airline by market share, had approached the court challenging a Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) decision related to shifting a part of the airline's operations to a new terminal. DIAL, which operates the airport here, had asked three airlines operating from T1 to shift a third of their flights to T2 to enable it to expand the terminal to meet growing passenger traffic.
Defending its decision, DIAL said T1 had exceeded its capacity and if airline operations were not shifted partially, it would lead to overcrowding. DIAL had said safety and security of passengers was its primary responsibility and in case of fire or terror threat, an overcrowded airport would lead to serious consequences for which it alone would be answerable, not the airlines.
IndiGo contended that shifting partially from T1 to T2 would result in confusion and cause inconvenience to passengers. By this decision, IndiGo will be spread across three terminals as it operates international flights from Terminal 3 (T3). Seeking quashing of DIAL's decision, IndiGo said the decision would strain its operations and proposed alternative solution of giving the entire T1 exclusively to it and shifting the other two carriers to T2.
The DIAL had directed IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir to relocate their operations in "parts" and split their operations by shifting flights to and from some sectors, namely Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru, to T2 with effect from January 4, 2018. It also said that the capacity of the three airlines to and from the three sectors would amount to around eight million persons per annum and shifting those to T2 would considerably reduce the burden on T1.
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