Airport to open revamped terminal 1 to ease passenger surge

Indore: Air travel from Indore is set to get more convenient as the renovated Terminal 1 (Old Terminal) of Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport, will see commencement of flight operations from April.To optimise operations, 16 daily flights—primarily those using smaller 76-seater aircraft—will be shifted from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1. Indigo will operate 14 of these flights, while Star Air and Alliance Air will operate one each. Routes include Lucknow, Raipur, Jaipur, and Jabalpur.Air India Express's Sharjah flight is also slated to operate from Terminal 1.Built at a cost of Rs 50 crore, the terminal has been upgraded to handle 300 passengers per hour.The airport, which currently has a capacity of 40 lakh passengers per year, recorded nearly 44 lakh passengers in the last year alone. The reopening of Terminal 1 will add an annual capacity of 10 lakh, bringing the airport's total capacity to 50 lakh passengers per year.Airport director Sunil Maggirwar said that this was an interim arrangement until a completely new, larger terminal was constructed. With Indore's passenger growth rate likely to exceed the 50-lakh mark within next two years, the airport's capacity enhancement remains a race against time. "This revamped terminal will significantly reduce the pressure on our current facilities while we move towards more permanent, large-scale expansions," he said.