Ghaziabad: Union civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu on Sunday emphasised the urgent need to expand Hindon Civil Terminal, saying that rush at the airport was giving the “feel of a railway station”.Kinjarapu, who was visiting the terminal to mark the launch of IndiGo’s flight operations from Hindon, said the terminal’s expansion needs at least 9 more acres. “Due to passenger rush, the terminal is giving the feel of a railway station, for which the expansion is necessary. At least 9 acres of land is required for the expansion, out of which expansion of the terminal building will be done over 770 sqm,” the minister said.In addition, he said, four check-in counters and an apron area to park aircraft will be created . “Talks are going on with the state govt and IAF since the airstrip being used is of Hindon IAF,” Kinjarapu said.IndiGo, India’s largest airline by market share, on Sunday launched commercial flight operations from the terminal on eight routes—Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Indore, Kolkata, Mumbai, Patna and Varanasi. It follows on the heels of Air India Express, which started operations from Hindon this March.Besides these two airlines, Star Air and FlyBig also run commercial flights from the terminal.According to officials, there are now flights on 22 routes from the civil terminal, which offers an alternative to Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in Delhi, especially for those living to the east of the capital. The Union civil aviation minister said at Sunday’s event that Hindon civil terminal was not just a “backup” for IGI, but its “backbone”.Drawing on his own experience, he said, “It took me 40 minutes from AIIMS (in Delhi) to come to Hindon terminal. Sometimes, it takes more than 40 minutes to reach IGI from AIIMS, and the distance between the two is closer. So, I say that Hindon is not a backup for IGI, but a backbone.”Developed in 2017, the civil terminal spans 42,000 sqm, more than half of which is the terminal building on 22,250-sqm area. Initially designed to handle 300 passengers per hour, the terminal’s capacity recently clocked a footfall of 430 passengers per hour. With IndiGo’s flights, officials now expect up to 500 passengers per hour — the maximum that the terminal can handle in the current state.In May, the district administration identified nine hectares in Sikandarpur, following a directive from the civil aviation ministry to identify land for expansion of the terminal. At present, it has only two parking bays and two conveyor belts.
