Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) is moving ahead with a major expansion plan to address growing passenger traffic, particularly on international routes. At the centre of this plan is the proposed Pier E at Terminal 3, which is expected to strengthen international capacity and support the airport’s long-term growth.

IGI Airport is already operating close to its installed capacity of about 106 million passengers per annum (MPPA). With Indian air traffic and airline fleets continuing to expand, additional terminal and aircraft-stand capacity has become increasingly important.

Terminal 3 is Delhi’s main international gateway and currently has an international capacity of around 30 million passengers annually. Pier E is planned to address this bottleneck by adding 12 contact stands and six remote contact stands, allowing more aircraft to be handled at T3 while reducing dependence on remote parking and bus-gate operations.

The expansion is expected to add roughly 16 million passengers annually at T3, taking its overall capacity from about 50 million to around 66 million MPPA. T3’s international capacity is expected to rise from around 30 million to about 46 million passengers annually, while domestic capacity remains around 20 million.

This means the international capacity of T3 could increase by more than 50%, supporting Delhi’s ambition to strengthen its position as one of India’s leading international aviation hubs.

The additional contact stands will allow more aircraft to dock directly at aerobridges, supporting smoother passenger movement and better turnaround efficiency. The six remote contact stands will provide additional flexibility during peak arrival and departure periods.

The Pier E expansion is also part of a wider plan to increase aircraft-handling capacity across IGI Airport. DIAL plans to expand the airport’s aircraft stands from about 228 equivalent stands today to around 270. The T3 works will also include changes to passenger-processing areas and expanded baggage-reclaim facilities, helping the airport manage higher international arrival volumes.

Currently, IGI Airport’s capacity is spread across three terminals, with T1 handling around 40–42 million passengers annually, T2 around 14 million and T3 around 50 million. The airport’s total capacity stands at about 106 million passengers annually.

Following the phased expansion, IGI is projected to reach about 116 million MPPA by April 2030 and around 125 million MPPA by 2032. Some longer-term planning reports extend the 125-million target towards 2036.

For the T3 expansion, at least 3,600 square metres of existing terminal space will require reconfiguration and refurbishment. This figure refers specifically to the terminal-area reconfiguration and does not represent the complete land footprint of Pier E, its airside facilities, apron and aircraft stands.

The project cost has also evolved through different stages of planning. An earlier DIAL proposal estimated Pier E at Rs 1,661.98 crore as part of a Rs 2,420.42 crore expansion package, while more recent coverage has referred to a broader Rs 2,100 crore T3 international-pier expansion.

Delhi’s expansion comes at a time when several other major Indian airports are also facing capacity pressure. Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport has limited scope for conventional expansion due to land and runway constraints, making Navi Mumbai International Airport an important addition to the region’s aviation capacity.

Chennai International Airport is undergoing expansion to raise its capacity to about 35 million passengers annually through Phase II and a new Terminal 3. Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport, Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport are also expected to require continued terminal, apron and airside capacity additions as passenger traffic grows.

Airports such as Ahmedabad, Pune, Goa, Jaipur, Lucknow and Guwahati are similarly seeing the need for targeted expansion across terminals, aircraft parking stands, cargo facilities and other airport infrastructure.

For Delhi, however, the focus remains on expanding within the existing airport footprint while protecting its role as a major international hub. With Pier E, additional aircraft stands and wider terminal improvements, IGI Airport is preparing for the next phase of passenger and flight growth while addressing the immediate pressure on international capacity.