Prime Minister Manmohan Singh officially inaugurated the state-of-the-art Terminal 2 or T2 at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) last week. Here is a sneak peak of this newly launched terminal that looks promising and exhilarating.
Finally, Mumbai got a world-class facility like the T2, that aims to de-congest one of the world’s busiest airports. The terminal boasts of 1.6 lakh sq ft of green landscape, which has 77,000 plants of 80 species. Terminal 2 is a four-storey terminal that stands as a grand head house or central processing podium atop modular concourses on the lower floor. Each floor features “interconnecting light slots” which enable natural light to penetrate to the lower floors to the building. Its peacock feather-inspired roof has Dichroic lenses that allow defused daylight and natural sunlight to illuminate the terminal. The head-roof system has 28 large skylights, measuring 5,000 square feet each and 244 minor skylights, measuring 1,400 square feet each.
T2 has 37 travelators, 48 escalators, and 72 elevators to aid those who fret over rushing to take connecting flights. T2 in fact has India’s tallest airport escalator that stands at 11.6 meters. The most attractive feature of the swanky terminal is the museum of artifacts. Stretching along a 3-km art wall, the museum houses over 7,000 artifacts collected from over 1,500 artists across the country. As far as facilities are concerned, the terminal will have 188 check-in counters, 60 immigration sites for departing passengers and 76 immigration counters for incoming fliers.
T2, which is part of MIAL’s Rs 12,500 crore modernisation project, will increase annual passenger handling capacity to 40 million from 32 million and double aircraft parking stands to more than 100, besides boosting the number of jetways, parking area and check-in counters. The terminal, which is expected to be functional from February, has set new benchmarks in green design.
