The much-awaited inauguration of the Delhi airport’s integrated terminal building, T3 — scheduled for March 2010 — might get delayed.

G M Rao, chairman of the GMR-backed consortium that is developing the airport, has said that work on the terminal building is eighty per cent done, while its synchronisation with Delhi Metro’s airport link might get delayed till June-July.

“We’ll complete work on the terminal by March 2010. Trials will begin in December. The Airport Metro link may get delayed. This has to be integrated with the terminal building for security reasons, as well as for passenger convenience,” Rao said on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport in Turkey on Saturday.

The Bangalore-based GMR group is part of a consortium that has completed the new terminal in Istanbul in a record 18 months. The project also makes GMR the first Indian private sector company to have successfully completed an airport project abroad.

The GMR chairman also said T3 will be the second largest terminal in the world after Beijing.

“The terminal will have 78 aerobridges,” Rao said.

Sources in the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), however, said work was on schedule.

DMRC will hand over operations at the Airport Express Metro Link to Anil Ambani’s Reliance Infrastructure Limited — a process that has already begun.

DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal said: “The Airport Express Metro link is going on as per schedule. The DMRC is in charge of its civil work. While the schedule is very tight, the target for opening the line is September 2010.”