Delhi airport opened its fourth runway on last Friday, allowing the country's largest airport to increase its daily flight capacity from 1,500 to nearly 2,000. The airfield operated by the GMR group is the only airport in South Asia with four runways. Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia stated, "This runway, along with terminal expansion, will add to creating capacity to serve more than 109 million people throughput, which would surpass and surpass Atlanta in its capacity."
The minister stated that he has requested the airport operator to begin using the renovated Terminal 1 before the winter surge begins.
While the fourth runway will increase the number of air traffic movements per hour, the new elevated taxiway, Eastern Cross Taxiways, will enable aircraft to exit the taxiway more quickly and shorten their taxi distance.
In the next three to four years, the country's fleet capacity will increase to nearly 1,500 aircraft from 720. "There will come a time in India when our current metro capacity of 221 million passengers will increase to approximately 400 million passengers," he added.
The CEO of Delhi Airport, Viedeh Kumar Jaipuriar, stated that the new milestone "reaffirms our commitment to excellence in delivering world-class aviation infrastructure" and thanked the aviation ministry, Airports Economic Regulatory Authority, Airports Authority of India, and contractors for their collaborative efforts and support.
There are 75-80 aircraft movements per hour at Delhi Airport. It employs a three-runway system with northerly and southerly runways designated as 27-28 North and 29 South, respectively.