Delhi airport: T3 redraws lines to make room for more international flyers; passenger flow split into 2 zones

NEW DELHI: Work is progressing in full swing at Delhi Airport’s T3 domestic wing to carve out an international wing, expected to be ready later this month. Part of the domestic security check area has been converted to house immigration counters for international outbound passengers, who will be screened after security.

The post-security passenger flow is being split into two non-porous zones for domestic and international flyers leading to the “bridge” to the aerobridges. The bridge has also been bifurcated: domestic passengers will turn left to boarding gates 37–62, while gates 27–36 on the right will handle international flights.


DIAL had considered using the converted area for both domestic and international flights, with international operations limited to night hours, but this plan was dropped. The newly created international wing, Pier C, will now be used exclusively for foreign flights. A similar separation is being implemented on the arrival side.

T3 has four piers and earlier used two each for domestic and international flights. With international traffic rising and the all-domestic T1’s capacity doubling to 4 crore passengers annually (CPA), DIAL has decided that T3 will have three international piers (A, B and C) and one domestic pier (D).

After the conversion, T3 will be able to handle 3 crore international travellers annually, up from 2 crore, while Pier D will handle 1.6 crore domestic flyers.