New Delhi, Oct 27 (IANS): IGI airport operator DIAL on Friday said it has given more time to various airlines to shift some of their flight operations to Terminal 2 (T2) from Terminal 1 (T1).

The shifting of flight operations to T2 is a prerequisite for the commencement of T1's expansion plan.

According to the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), it continues to consult IndiGo and SpiceJet on the matter and has given these airlines time till January 2018 to shift some flights from T1 to T2.

Earlier, the deadline for three low-cost carriers -- IndiGo, GoAir and SpiceJet -- which currently operate from T1D to shift some of their flight operations to T2 was October-end.

Recently, budget passenger carrier GoAir had agreed to shift its entire operations from T1 to T2.

"We are in consultations with our stakeholders (SpiceJet and IndiGo)... we have given them time to shift (some of their flights) to T2 by January 4, 2018, DIAL's Chief Executive I.P. Rao told IANS.

The T1 expansion plan envisages a new integrated terminal that can handle 40 million passengers per annum.

DIAL had earlier said that the budget passenger carriers' departure terminal T1D and terminal T1C will be merged into one and expanded to accommodate 40 million passengers per annum.

However, for the plan to go forward, the operator needed to shift some traffic catered to by the current T1D to T2 terminal.

The T1D terminal, which has a passenger handling capacity of 20 million per annum, handled 24 million passengers during 2016-17.