Delhi T1 roof collapse: Over 95 flights cancelled; airports to face structural inspection, says Minister Ram Mohan Naidu

Terminal-1 of Delhi airport, the country's largest domestic terminal, cancelled over 95 flights after its roof collapsed due to heavy rainfall in the capital city on Friday, June 28.

Following the incident, Indigo cancelled over 80 flights and SpiceJet cancelled around 15 flights. The airport generally handles around 190-200 arrivals and departures per day.

The ministry is going to investigate other airports to prevent such incidents in the future, said Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu. 

“From the ministry’s side, this is being taken as a serious incident, not just at this airport but across the country any airports with similar structures...we will have to go through them all again and we will have to do a thorough checking of all necessary airports that come under purview, we will see if there is a requirement for an internal body also,” said Naidu.

Delhi International Airport's Terminal 1 currently has the capacity to handle 40 million passengers annually, according to data from Delhi airport's official website. The airport also handled 4,56,183 flights for the year 2023-24. 

Indigo and SpiceJet are the two domestic airlines to operate out of the domestic terminal, according to data collected from the website. Recently, Delhi Terminal 1 received an upgrade with DigiYatra gates installed, according to the GMR Group website.

GMR Airport Infrastructure shares closed 2.74 per cent lower at ₹96.5 on June 28, when compared with ₹99.23 in its previous close on June 27. 

About 148.5 millimetres (5.85 inches) of rain fell over three hours in the Delhi airport area in the early morning, more than the average for all of June, reported Reuters quoting the National Weather Office. Delhi's main Safdarjung weather station recorded 228.1 mm (9 inches) of rainfall in the 24 hours ending 8:30 a.m. (0300 GMT), its highest 24-hour rainfall in June in 88 years. 

The airport incident claimed one life and injured several others. Mint reported earlier, quoting anonymous sources, that the Delhi Police would conduct the probe to ascertain the reasons for the structure's collapse and “fix the responsibility of the agency and people whose job was to ensure its maintenance”.