Delhi Airport Shutdown: Potential Flight Cancellations and Delays Ahead

Torrential rainfall brought down a concrete canopy at Delhi Airport's Terminal 1, crushing one person and injuring several, and now all flights have been "suspended till further notice." The airport operator, GMR, which operates Delhi's Indira Gandhi Airport, aims to reschedule flights from both Terminal 2 and Terminal 3, but this may lead to logistical nightmares. The closure of Terminal 1 will significantly impact air traffic, with 89 flights scheduled to take off from there on Saturday and 90 on Sunday, accounting for about 20% of the country's daily scheduled flights.

Key Takeaways:

The collapse of the concrete canopy at Terminal 1 has suspended all flights till further notice, with about 20% of the country's daily scheduled flights impacted.
GMR aims to reschedule flights from Terminal 2 and Terminal 3, but this may lead to giant logistical issues, particularly with IndiGo and SpiceJet, which operate from Terminal 1.
The closure of Terminal 1 will have a significant impact on air traffic, with 89 flights scheduled to take off on Saturday and 90 on Sunday.
Terminal 2 has IndiGo and SpiceJet flights scheduled with 72 and 17 flights, respectively, while Terminal 3 has Vistara and Air India flights.
Delhi Airport's Terminal 1 has been expanded to handle 100 million passengers, but the added capacity may not be enough to accommodate the increased demand.
The number of daily domestic passengers has soared from 30,000 in 2021 to 4.71 lakh in FY 2023-24, making it challenging to manage air traffic.

Statistics:

89 flights scheduled to take off from Terminal 1 on Saturday
90 flights scheduled to take off from Terminal 1 on Sunday
20% of the country's daily scheduled flights impacted by the Terminal 1 closure
72 IndiGo flights and 17 SpiceJet flights scheduled from Terminal 2
100 million passengers capacity of Terminal 1
4.71 lakh daily domestic passengers in FY 2023-24
30,000 daily domestic passengers in 2021

Sources:

GMR, Delhi Airport operator
Cirium, Airline consultancy