Sneak peek: T2, Mumbai's swanky airport terminal

With less than a day to go before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh unveils the city’s new integrated terminal T2, MiD DAY gives you a sneak peek of the ambitious project

The roof of the terminus has been embedded with special dichroic lenses that move along with the changing direction of the sun, reflecting an array of colours onto the check-in hall’s floor. In keeping with the central motif of the peacock that has inspired T2’s design, the colours that are reflected are reminiscent of a peacock’s feather.

As many as 272 pieces of glass are mounted on a steel framework to form an intricate pattern on the roof. These are the largest skylights ever built in Asia, and accompanied by 244 minor skylights. The entire layout of 272 skylights covers over 30,000 sq metres of area and resembles a diamond-studded jewel. From within the check-in area, the roof looks like 1,000 peacocks dancing.

Facilities for passengers
>> Dedicated 6 lane, 3.2 km elevated expressway, just 6 minutes from domestic terminal (Today it takes more than 30 minutes)
>> 8 check-in islands, 188 counters
>> 60 emigration counters on departure (Currently, there are just 38)
>> 72 immigration counters on arrivals (Currently, there are 40 now)
>> 52 boarding bridges compared to 20 now for domestic and International
>> 10,900 seating, 102 toilets, 161 elevators, escalators and travellators
>> 10 baggage carrousels, can be expanded to 14 in future
>> Landscaping of 200,000 square ft
>> 1,000 back-office rooms
>> Largest multi-level covered car park in India, accomodating 5,000 cars

Interesting comparisons
>> Area of granite used is 1,85,000 sq m, enough to cover 27 footballs fields
>> Total area of skylight glass is over 30,000 sq m, enough to cover Wimbledon’s Centre Court six times.
>> Approximately 4 km of LED lighting has been used to illuminate the façade. This is just 1.5 km short of the length of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link.
>> Total area of facade glazing is 45,150 sq m, enough to wrap the Air India HQ building in glass, more than two times.
>> The centralised air-conditioning plant that supplies air to the terminal is of York make and has a refrigerating capacity of 15,000 tonnes.
>> The elevated road surface can accommodate about 277 tennis courts or about 1,080 badminton courts.
>> The height of the central void former is large enough for Michael Jordan to comfortably walk in it without bending.

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