Delhi Airport's Terminal 3 - Incredible!

Those of you who know me better know that I am very interested in aviation, be it in the aircraft's, airlines and also airports. Actually when I was younger I had the ambition of becoming a pilot but my bad eyes didn't allow me to pursue a career in aviation. Still my work in football allows me to travel around the world and it is one of the things I really enjoy in my work. I know there are friends and colleagues who rather stay in one place then travel around the globe, but getting to know people and cultures is an added bonus on the job.

Yesterday when I arrived in New Delhi I for the first time had the pleasure of landing at the brand new Terminal 3 which has been in construction for a number of years. Last time around in May 2010 I still had to use the old and run down Terminal 2, which just wasn't up to the mark anyone.

You come out of the aircraft through one of the new aero-bridges and one of the first things you notice will be the multicoloured logo of the airport and the carpet which has been kept in that multicolour tone. I really liked its look and the arrivals area close to the aircraft is really spacious, but now it is a long walk to immigration and then baggage claim. That will always be a problem with bigger airports as you have to walk sometimes much much more, take e.g. Heathrow, Schiphol, Frankfurt Rhein-Main, or Dubai's Terminal 3.

You then come out and are greeted by the pick-up service of the hotel, but the driver directly warns you, "Sir, it will be a long walk up to the car." No issues for me, but I could see travellers around me moaning that they have to walk a kilometre or two to get the multi-level car park. This might be one of the weaknesses of the new Terminal that there seems to be no hotel pick-up car park close-by. I guess if too many high profile people complain then there will have to be something worked out.

Overall a great experience for me, but one could see that Terminal 3 and its surrounding areas are still very much under construction. And loads of work is still to be finished to say the Terminal is fully operational.