Crowning glory: Indira Gandhi International Airport second best in the world

New Delhi: Delhi's IGI airport has been ranked the second-best airport in the world for 2011by theAirportsCouncil International. The airport scored this distinction in the category of airports with 25-40 million passengers per annum. Last year , it had been ranked fourth in the same category. The airport scored 4.72 of a possible 5 in the airport service quality index , coming 6in the overall airport ranking for 2011.

This is a massive jump for the airport which, before privatization in 2007, had scored 3.02 on the ASQ and did not manage a rank in the top 100. Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd (DIAL) commended the efforts of agencies such as customs , immigration , CISF , airlines , concessionaires , housekeeping and other support staff for contributing to the image make-over for the airport.

DIAL's CEO I Prabhakara Rao said : "IGIA has come a long way in the last five years since we took over. We have ensured that quality has become a way of life not just with DIAL employees , but with all stakeholders of the IGI airport family. We are confident that all 30 ,000 plus members of the IGI airport family will continue to strive for excellence and we hope to improve our position even further in the coming years."

IGI airport handled a record number of 35 million passengers in 2011. The airport has an annual passenger capacity of over 60 million of which terminal 3 can alone handle 34 million passengers. The airport also handled over 6 lakh tonnes of cargo and over 3 lakh aircraft movements in 2011.

Airports Council International is the only global trade representative of airports with 580 members operating from 1,650 airports in 179 countries and territories.