State of the airports: A day after the roof collapse at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International ( IGI) airport's Terminal-1 claimed one life, the Union Civil Aviation Ministry has issued a strict directive, stating that airports across the country will undergo a detailed structural inspection. One person was killed and seven injured in the fatal roof collapse incident at Delhi Airport on Friday morning.

“DGCA has been instructed to carry out a high-level inquiry into this unfortunate incident. All other airports will undergo a detailed structural inspection,” Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said in an X post. The aviation experts have also urged the government to ensure quality growth in the civil aviation sector of the country by ensuring high standards of safety and world-class service quality for the passengers.

Aviation expert Dhaiyasheel Vandekar said apart from the airports in metro cities, aerodromes in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities continue to wait for improved airport infrastructure.

“Delhi airport handled as many as 7.22 crore passengers last year with an annual growth of over 22 per cent footfall. The increasing number of flyers at even airports in metropolitan cities is a matter of concern as airports are crumbling to this pressure,” added the aviation expert Vandekar.

Notably, the Airport Council International's ratings for most of the terminal infrastructure of airports in India raises many questions. Most airports, especially those based in smaller cities have seen ranked low for terminal infrastructure. The Airport Service Quality (ASQ) index seeks a facelift of airports, especially underlines the need for decongestion in waiting areas, entry and exit points of airports, said Vandekar.

Crumbling infra needs boost

With only about 770 + commercial aircrafts available with our Indian carriers, airports are turning out to be too congested to cater to this huge growing pan India demand for flights. “There are several important cities that have seen a handicap for want of better airport infrastructure. These airports, besides being based in major commercial business cities in the country, are important for tourism but lag behind in terms of their terminal buildings,” aviation expert Vandekar told Republic Business.

As per Vandekar, several of the Airports Authority of India ( AAI) operated airports need to see a runway and terminal expansion.

Airports to face safety audit of structures, terminals: MoS Civil Aviation

DGCA has been instructed to carry out a high-level inquiry into this unfortunate incident, said the minister.

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