New Delhi, July 28: The goal-scoring match between India and Pakistan has a new venue in the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi dribbled past his Indian counterpart during the July 15 joint press conference between the two leaders. It later triggered a verbal spat between the countries.
However, in a snub of jumbo proportions the authorities at the Delhi international airport shifted two Pakistan International Airlines flights to the old T2 terminal at the eleventh hour. Incidentally, the two flights could have been the first airplanes on and off the newly inaugurated T3 terminal. The airport has finally shifted all international operations to the new terminal but the authorities ensured that it should not be a Pakistani plane that initiates T3 into action on Wednesday afternoon.
Termed ‘Gateway of India’, T3 will be the country’s biggest airport and the busiest once operations start in full swing.
International flight operations are scheduled to be shifted from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3 on Wednesday starting from 2 pm. “We have chosen Wednesday because on this day there will be the least number of flights between 2 pm and 7:30 pm,” Andrew Harrison, Chief Operating Officer, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said.
An Air India flight from New York will be the first to arrive at T3 at 4:45 pm while another Air India Jaipur-Delhi-Dubai flight (IC-895) would become the first flight to take-off from T3 at 6:50 pm.
Interestingly, as per the schedule released by DIAL the first flight, which should have landed during the time is Pakistan International Airlines flight PK 270 expected to land at 4:10 pm, barely 35 minutes before the landing of Air India flight. However, this PIA flight has been shifted to T2.
Also the first outbound flight from T3 should have been another PIA flight to Lahore, which was scheduled to take off at 5:30 pm that again has been shifted to T2.
A Delhi International Airport spokesperson said, “The decision was collectively taken by the aviation ministry and DIAL authorities. Air India is our national carrier and we thought it more appropriate to start with it. So there is nothing to be read between the lines.”
The schedule was finalised by DIAL authorities as per the frequency of flights and it clearly mentions the PIA flight to Lahore on top, as shown in the release sent by DIAL.
The check-in facility at T3 will start at 2:50 pm so as all other facilities like retail units, F&B units and ground transportation.
——-Agencies