Not long after it inaugurated the swanky terminal 3 at Delhi International Airport (DIAL),

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the Bangalore-based GMR group is now planning to build a similar terminal for cargo operations.

“We have a definite plan for state-of-art cargo facility at Delhi airport. We had appointed a global consultant that has already submitted its report. The cargo terminal spread over 25 acres of land, would have warehouses, logistics, special facilities for freight forwarding industry. It would be operational by 2013,” PS Nair, chief executive officer (corporate) GMR Airports told reporters on Tuesday.

The cargo industry has seen tremendous growth. According to Nair, once the new terminal is operational, it can handle around one million tonne of cargo. He, however, did not divulge investment details. “We want to make it a cargo hub at par with those in Singapore, Dubai etc. We are in the process of evaluating our investment. Therefore, it would not be possible to give exact number for investment,” he said.

The passenger traffic at T3 (terminal 3), Nair said, has grown significantly. “The number of domestic seats has gone up by 40 per cent and international seats by 32 per cent in this summer schedule compared to previous year. T3 is becoming a transit hub and carriers have increased number of flights.”