Parliamentary panel members flag serious concerns about flight delays at Delhi airport

New Delhi: MPs from different parties have criticised the civil aviation authorities at a Parliamentary panel meeting, saying "mayhem" continues at the Delhi airport causing flight delays and serious inconvenience to passengers, according to sources.

At the meeting of the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture headed by JD(U)'s Sanjay Jha on Thursday, various members questioned the civil aviation ministry officials about the planning to deal with the fallout of the closure of Terminal 2 (T2) and the recent flight delays.

The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in the national capital, also the country's largest and busiest airport, has three terminals -- T1, T2 and T3 -- and four runways. Currently, T2 and one runway RW 10/28 are temporarily shut for maintenance works.

T2 was shut on April 15 and all the flights from there have been moved to the revamped T1.

At the meeting, some MPs noted that their flights were delayed to highlight the persisting problem.

In response, the ministry officials said the flight disruptions were mainly due to last week's dust storms and assured that efforts are being made to address the situation but the MPs flagged that the situation remains bad and far from normal, according to the sources.

The sources also said the ministry's explanation was not "satisfactory".

One MP, who was present at the meeting, said the only people happy in the airport were those running restaurants and cafes as they had a brisk business as delays and and overcrowding have forced passengers to spend a considerable period of time at the airport.

The panel members also noted with concern that a key airport like Delhi has been disrupted, which will have a domino impact on the entire air travel across the country, as per the sources.

The agenda of the panel's meeting on Thursday was on 'Comprehensive Assessment of Airports Authority of India's Operational Efficiency and Service Quality' Last week, there were disruptions to flight operations following inclement weather conditions. And earlier this week, there were some technical issue with check in baggage system.

IGIA -- operated by GMR Group-led consortium Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) -- handles around 1,300 flight movements daily.