To ease passenger load, Jaipur airport Terminal-1 renovation to start in December

The Jaipur airport administration will start renovation work of terminal 1 next month and plans to make it operational by September 2018. The move to revive the old terminal, which is at present being used for cargo services, is aimed to cater to the increasing passenger load at terminal 2.

“We will start renovation work on terminal 1 next month and plan to make it operational by September 2018,” Jaipur airport director JS Balhara told HT.

Four years ago, international flights were operated from terminal 1. However, in July 2013, the authorities decided to shift the international flight to the then newly-built terminal 2. At that time, there were only 24 flights, including domestic flights, from Jaipur and since then the terminal 1 was being used for movement of cargo flights.

However, with increase in the number of flights to 61, the daily passenger load at terminal 2 has exceeded 11,000 passengers, while it has been designed to cater to 6,000-7,000 passengers.

At present, 53 domestic and eight international flights operate out of Jaipur airport. The passenger load has increased further with launch of three new flights in the winter schedule. Air Asia also proposes to launch Jaipur-Malaysia flight from February 2018.

The congestion at terminal 2 results in waiting lounges being packed and also leads to long queues and delays. In order to ease passenger load, the airport administration recently met with the airline officials and sought their opinion. The administration had also written to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in this regard.

Apart from the cargo booking, only Haj flights are operated from terminal 1. With no flight parking space near terminal 1, passengers will need to be taken by bus from one terminal to the other.