Parking at IGI an expensive proposition

Friday, July 30, 2010


Driving down to the new airport to pick up someone and intend using the new multilevel parking lot? Be prepared to shell out a bomb. Parking in the general category for half an hour is Rs 50 but a minute more than that and one could end up paying double. For frequent fliers who park their vehicles for more than eight hours, the charge is Rs 600.

The parking charges that have been finalized by Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd (DIAL) for the new parking facility which has come up at the new terminal T3 have been fixed at Rs 50 for the first 30 minutes in the general category and Rs 70 for the special category. For upto two hours, passengers will have to shell out Rs 100 and Rs 140 respectively. For every one hour subsequently, upto eight hours, Rs 50 and Rs 70 respectively will be added to this. Finally, if a vehicle is parked for more than eight hours, the daily charge would be Rs 600 and Rs 900 respectively.

Passengers who used the facility over the first two days were aghast at the fares. They claimed that it was taking an easy 45 minutes to 1.5 hours to walk out of the arrival terminal after landing in Delhi and there was no way that one could park for less than half an hour. "From the point when one lands to the time one leaves the terminal, there are several factors that determine how long it would take to complete all formalities. The current rates are also higher than those that were being charged at the new domestic terminal. I don't see why rates are different when facilities are the same,'' said Atul Makhija, who had come to pick up his wife at the new terminal.

The problem is even more acute at present since the airport is grappling with initial glitches. On Wednesday, passengers of the AI 102 that landed at T3 around 5.15pm took over an hour to get their baggage since the conveyor belt kept stalling frequently. "I called my brother when we landed and he reached the airport half an hour later but it still took us an additional 45 minutes to come out since there was some problem with the baggage. He ended up paying Rs 100 for parking the car,'' said Pratiksha Joshi, a passenger.

Original news source http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Parking-at-IGI-an-expensive-proposition-/articleshow/6234560.cms