Delhi's new airport

I recently had two long layovers at the new Terminal 3 at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport. Here's a report.

By new, it opened in July 2010, just prior to India hosting the Commonwealth Games. It's the latest in what seems to be a series of big new airline terminals in the up-and-coming Asian nations: Bangkok, Hong Kong, etc. (It's also another example of how other nations invest in infrastructure while the U.S. languishes, but that's another topic.)

The good news, it's a huge improvement over the old Delhi airport, which was not really "old" (it was opened only in 1986) but woefully outmoded. It was built prior to the free market changes that began transforming India starting in 1991, with only eight international gates and a grim waiting area for the long layovers that sometimes happen on this side of the globe. I went through the old place four times in recent years, and it seemed hardly up to the job.

The new Terminal 3, the first phase of a staged expansion that will eventually allow the airport to handle up to 100 million passengers a year (as if fuel prices will ever allow that) is on a grand scale --- long and spacious corridors, impressive public art, and a modern feel that says "India" without any hint of all the chaos that awaits outside the airport.

Drawbacks: It's way too hot and stuffy. Our trip to Kathmandu, Nepal required us to wait 10 hours each way, and by the end of both layovers I felt like I'd spent the time in a sauna. Not very comforting during a long journey.

One weird thing is that the restrooms (of which there are plenty, unlike in the new Bangkok airport) are not identified clearly as "male" or "female." Instead, you have to look down an entranceway, where a large wall-sized photo of a man or a woman is posted. Unfortunately, which is male and which is female isn't obvious to tired Western eyes, and more than once I saw people start down one corridor, then balk, back up, and wonder.

And, alas, the place is lousy with horizontal glass windows looking out onto the tarmac and the field. I simply can't understand why architects continue to use these, as they lend a confining, prison cell atmosphere to even the largest buildings. Why? Doesn't anyone do vertical windows anymore? Aren't we a vertical race? Don't we stand erect? Hello?

Nice thing: the TVs tuned to some airport channel were at least not blasting out at full volume at 3 a.m., which helped us get some sleep during the layovers.