NEW DELHI: The opening of the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport’s new Terminal 3 (T3) here last Saturday, has enhanced Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s (MAHB) stature as an airport operator and manager beyond the Malaysian borders.
MAHB owns a 10 per cent stake in a consortium led by India’s GMR group, which built the estimated US$1.5 billion (RM4.8 billion) terminal in a record time of 37 months.
The consortium was given a 30-year concession in 2006 to manage, operate and expand the IGI Airport, which now handles 25 million passengers a year.
The new T3 increases passenger traffic capacity by another 34 million. In terms of area, it is the eighth largest airport terminal in the world, and fifth largest in Asia, after Dubai, Beijing, Hong Kong and Bangkok.
MAHB managing director Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad said the consortium had been asked to complete the new terminal before the 2010 Commonwealth Games starts in October.
“We are glad that we were able to deliver it ahead of time,” Bashir told visiting Malaysian reporters before the inauguration of the T3 by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday.
Also present was Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha, who said: “It shows the expertise and excellence of MAHB in the
area of airport development and management.”
Kong added that it would also help MAHB in exploring similar undertakings in other cities in India and beyond.
The IGI Airport is the second in India that MAHB is helping to manage, the other being the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in
Hyderabad.
MAHB also helps manage the Istanbul Sabiha Gokçen International Airport in Turkey in which it has a 20 per cent stake. Just as in New Delhi and Hyderabad, it partners the GMR group.
MAHB, which operates 39 airports in Malaysia, and GMR recently won a 25-year concession to build, operate, modernise and expand the Male International Airport in the Maldives.
The IGI Airport’s new T3 is scheduled to start commercial operations on July 14, with Air India’s New York-New Delhi flight the first to arrive. This will be followed by Air India’s New Delhi-Dubai flight, which will be the first out of the terminal. Domestic operations will start on July 31 with an Air India flight to Chennai.
The T3 takes up 5.4 million sq ft. It has 89 “travelators”, 63 elevators, 31 escalators, a five-level in-line baggage handling system and 4,300 parking bays.
From Zuraimi Abdullah
Business Times
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