Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) is the first airport in the country with four runways and Eastern Cross Taxiways (ECT). The fourth runway and double ECT, also known as elevated taxiways, were inaugurated at Delhi airport. This development will significantly increase the capacity and operational efficiency of the largest airport in India. It is expected that the airport will be able to handle 109 million passengers annually in the near future.

The Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia, expressed his enthusiasm for the growth of the country's civil aviation sector, stating that it is at a tipping point and entering a phase of expansion. Currently, the airport processes about 1,500 aircraft movements per day. With the addition of the fourth runway and the continued expansion of the terminal, Scindia announced that the passenger capacity of Delhi airport will increase from 70 million to 109 million per year, even surpassing the capabilities of the Atlanta airport.

The introduction of the fourth runway will allow the airport to accommodate more flights, increasing capacity throughput from the current 1,400 to 2,000 aircraft movements. Scindia highlighted rising demand for air travel, citing a nearly 19 percent year-over-year increase in domestic passenger traffic in June, to about 125 million.

With the operationalization of the ECT, the taxi time for aircraft is reduced from about 20 minutes to 10-12 minutes. Scindia highlighted the unique feature of the ECT, mentioning that aircraft taxi on the elevated taxiways while vehicles move on the road below. The ECT is designed to house two wide-body planes, such as the A380 and B777, at the same time.

The operationalisation of the fourth runway was commemorated with a ceremonial water cannon salute to an Air India aircraft, on the occasion of the departure from Delhi to Srinagar (flight AI 821). IGIA is managed by the Delhi International Airport (DIAL), managed by GMR Airports Infrastructure.

GM Rao, chairman of the GMR Group, praised IGIA as the largest airport in India, serving around 70 million passengers annually. He stressed that the fourth runway and ECT will significantly improve operational efficiency and increase capacity.

IGIA currently consists of three terminals (T1, T2 and T3) and four runways (RW 09/27, RW 11R/29L, RW 10/28 and RW 11L/29R). It was announced that once the fourth runway becomes operational, the third runway (RW 11R/29L) will undergo maintenance and be temporarily closed.

According to DIAL, the ECT is estimated to save about 350 kilograms of fuel per taxiing aircraft from RW 29R to Terminal 1 and vice versa. This translates into a reduction of almost 1,114 kilograms of CO2 emissions per aircraft, which equates to an annual reduction of approximately 55,000 tons of CO2 emissions from aircraft.

In addition, Scindia expects airports' annual passenger handling capacity to increase to nearly 420 million by 2030, compared to the current level of 145 million.