India officially got its second airfield in 1918 that received airmail, small flights and served well during World War II and the partition of India from Pakistan. This is in the Safdarjung area of Delhi, built after Mumbai’s Juhu aerodrome.
Today, it is closed (since 2002) to commercial flights, except for VVIP helicopter rides, and hosts aircraft maintenance courses.
By the early 1960s, the government realised that Safdarjung was too small for civilian operations and didn’t have the bandwidth to receive bigger aircraft such as jets. It didn’t make sense to extend its runway either as the fully functional Palam Airport was close at hand, and available.
At the time, Palam, Delhi’s second airport, was a station for the Indian Air Force. Pre-independence, it served the Royal Air Force during World War II, the main purpose for which it was built.
Indian Air Force shifted base to Hindon (in the neighbouring state of UP) from where it continues to operate today. Palam Airport was handed to Airports Authority of India. In 1962, civilian operations were moved from Safdarjung to Palam Airport. As air traffic and passenger load continued to increase, Palam Airport had to construct a larger terminal.
On May 2, 1986, it inaugurated Terminal-2 as Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA).
In May 2006, Delhi International Airport, a joint venture consortium led by GMR Group took over the operations, management and maintenance of IGIA. It opened a third terminal four years later, making IGIA the largest airport in India. Last year, Airports Council International ranked IGIA as the best airport in the world, under the 25-40 million passengers per annum category.
