Flyers may have to pay to use IGIA air train

New Delhi: Passengers flying in and out of Delhi Airport may have to pay to use the much-awaited air train which is expected to be ready by March 2028. Only transit passengers — those flying into T1 & taking connecting flight from T2/3 or vice versa — will not be required to pay to use this automated people mover (APM), according to the consultation paper released by Airports Economic Regulatory Authority for determining IGIA's tariff for the period April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2029."APM is already under bidding stage… expected to be operational by March 2028. The movement would be bi-directional both from T1 to T3 and vice-versa. DIAL expects throughput of 40,000 to 50,000 passengers/day initially which would be scaled up to 80,000 to 90,000 passengers/day by increasing the frequency. APM will not be chargeable for transfer passengers while for rest of the passengers, it will be chargeable," the paper says.Delhi International Airport Ltd has also submitted its plans for converting a domestic pier to int'l at T3 and build a new pier at T3, as reported by TOI recently. While the conversion and T2 refurbishment are expected to cost about Rs 184 crore, the proposed new pier will cost about Rs 1,662 crore. tnn