A new global benchmark

The new Terminal 2 (T2) at Mumbai International Airport, an engineering marvel and an architectural icon, completed its construction confronting with a lot of challenges. GVK constructed the new T2 in the same location of the old international terminal without shutting down its operations.

GVK’s new integrated state-of-the-art Terminal 2 at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) was inaugurated in January by the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. GVK has built the new Terminal as an iconic mega structure (measuring 4.4 million sq ft) that will set global benchmarks in airport infrastructure development. Featuring a highly compact design by New York based SOM, T2 will have the ability to handle 40 million passengers annually. Traversing across four levels, the vertical and compact design of T2 integrating all operations (international, domestic, cargo, ground handling, security, retail, etc) under one roof enables enhanced passenger servicing and operational efficiency of CSIA.

Once fully operational, all international and domestic passengers will enter the new Terminal Head House of the fourth level that is accessed by a sweeping elevated road from the western express highway in only 3 minute.

Facilities

The warm, open, light-filled and monumentally large check-in hall features 188 20 check-in counters. There are 60 emigration counters, 124 security check positions, 41 travellators, 47 escalators and 73 elevators that will swiftly process passengers for boarding.

The common check-in hall leads to a retail hub for international travelers, while domestic passengers proceed down to Level 3 along the palm and waterfall gardens to their own dedicated domestic retail hub. These commercial plazas spread over a combined area of 200,000 sq ft are centrally located at the junction of the concourses and the terminal core to provide close proximity to the 52 convenient departure gates for maximum passenger convenience. Level 2 is dedicated to all arrivals with 10 fully automatic baggage-handling carousels and 72 arrival immigration counters, while Level 1 is designed for ground transportation.

Inter-connecting light slots and multi-story light well ensure that light penetrates even into the lower floors of the four-storied mega structure, acting as a constant reminder of the surrounding city and its landscape.

For the first time in India, the terminal also features an Airport Joint Control Centre that will house all stakeholders from security to airline officials and airport operations including to facilitate collaborative and speedy decision making.

Art meets technology

The new airport terminal is also home to India’s largest public art programme, in the form of a 3 km multi-story Art Wall, illuminated by skylights, that has over 7,000 pieces of artwork and artefacts from Maharashtra also every region and corner of India. Titled Jaya He (Glory to India) it captures the expanse, depth and beauty of Indian art, craft and cultural heritage, while initiating the visitor into experiences that lie beyond and convey a distinctive narrative of India’s incredible diversity, living in multiple centuries simultaneously. Rajeev Sethi, one of South Asia’s leading curators and scenographers, successfully designed and created this art programme.

Throughout T2, there are fixtures and details such as 1,000 chandeliers inspired by the lotus flower, a Diya curtain with 10,000 diyas waiting to welcome international travelers and the check-in hall which is inspired by 1,000 white peacocks in the sky.

Environment-friendly

The Terminal 2 was built to be highly energy and water efficient. Sewage recycling, water recycling and rain water harvesting technologies will continue to a 20 per cent reduction in water use, over and above the Leeds baseline. Using a high-performance glazing system with a custom frit pattern, T2 achieves optimal thermal performance and mitigates glare. Perforated metal panels on the terminal’s curtain wall filter the low western and eastern sun angles, creating a comfortable day-lit space for waiting passengers, and responsive day light controls balance outdoor and indoor light levels for optimal energy savings. Combined with strategically placed skylights through-out the check-in hall, these will reduce T2’s energy consumption by 23 per cent. The terminal also has a Level 2 accreditation on carbon management by ACI

Car parking

The terminal features a multi-level car park with the ability to handle 5200 cars making it one of the largest in the country. The car park is covered with lush landscape gardens, providing a scenic first view for arriving and departing passengers.

T2 facts

• 15-m tall cable-stayed glass wall û the longest in the world
• 11 acre long-span mega roof supported by only 30 columns
• 1.85 million sq ft of granite used, can cover 27 footballs field
• 30,000 sq ft skylight glass, enough to cover Wimbledon’s Centre Court six times over 4 km of LED lighting used to illuminate the fatade 5,200 car multi-level car park, largest in the country

T2 highlights

• Spans across 4.4 m sq ft area
• Dedicated 6-lane, 3.2 km elevated expressway shortening travel time to T2 from Western Express Highway
• 208 check-in counters as well as 23 domestic and 30 international security pedestals 60 emigration counters on departure and 72 immigration counters on arrivals
• 52 boarding bridges
• 10,900 seating capacity, 102 toilets, 161 elevators, escalators, travellators.
• Retail footprint of 200,000 sq ft
• Lounges, 1 day hotel, 1 transit hotel
• 10 baggage carrousels, expandable to 14
• Automated baggage system handling 9,600 bags per hr 90 per cent passengers can be served by aerobridges 200,000 sq ft landscape garden
• Flexible design for facilities to adapt to change in traffic patterns and peak time; domestic and international can thus share same facilities at different times
• LEED gold certified