Indira Gandhi International Airport (IATA: DEL, ICAO: VIDP) is the primary international airport of the National Capital Region of Delhi, India, situated in South-West Delhi, 16 km (10 mi) southwest of New Delhi city centre. Named after Indira Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India, it is the busiest airport in India. With the commencement of operations at the new Terminal 3, Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport has become India's and South Asia's largest and one of the most important aviation hub, with a current capacity of handling more than 46 million passengers and aimed at handling more than 100 million passengers by 2030. Along with Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, it handles more than half of the air traffic in South Asia. The airport's operator, Delhi International Airport Private Limited (DIAL), is looking to make the airport the next international transit hub.
Spread over an area of 5,220 acres (2,110 ha) of land, Delhi airport serves as the primary civilian aviation hub for the National Capital Region of India. It was previously operated by the Indian Air Force until its management was transferred to the Airport Authority of India. In May 2006, the management of the airport was passed over to Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), a joint venture led by the GMR Group, which also has the responsibility for the airport's ongoing expansion and modernisation.
In 2011-12, the airport handled 35.88 million passengers and the planned expansion program will increase its capacity to handle 100 million passengers by 2030. The new Terminal 3 building has had the capacity to handle an additional 34 million passengers annually since the start of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Terminal 3 is the world's 8th largest passenger terminal. In September 2008, the airport inaugurated a 4.43 kilometre-long runway. In 2010, Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) was conferred the fourth best airport award in the world in the 15–25 million category, and Best Improved Airport in the Asia-Pacific Region by Airport Council International. In 2011, the IGIA was ranked the second-best airport in the world in the 25-40 million passengers category, again by Airport Council International. Also in 2011, the airport was the 34th busiest in the world with 34,729,467 passengers handled, registering a 17.8% growth in traffic over the previous year.
The Windows 8 app GMR Delhi Airport gives access to latest flight information and can be downloaded free of cost from Windows Store.
Read more about Indira Gandhi International Airport: History, Statistics, Runways, Terminals, Ground Transportation, Incidents and Accidents
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“You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose.”
—Indira Gandhi (1917–1984)
“Public speaking is done in the public tongue, the national or tribal language; and the language of our tribe is the men’s language. Of course women learn it. We’re not dumb. If you can tell Margaret Thatcher from Ronald Reagan, or Indira Gandhi from General Somoza, by anything they say, tell me how. This is a man’s world, so it talks a man’s language.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929)
“It was like taking a beloved person to the airport and returning to an empty house. I miss the people. I miss the world.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)