The ministry of civil aviation has asked Guragaon-based low-fare airline IndiGo to launch its international operations from the Terminal 3 (T3) at the Delhi International Airport instead of the airline's current base at terminal 1D.

The letter was sent on Monday evening. The move may hurt IndiGo, which will have to pay higher charges at T3, but end up addressing the main grouse of rivals such as Kingfisher and Jet Airways.

The two had complained recently to the ministry that they are being unfairly charged higher rates at T3, while IndiGo and SpiceJet pay lower charges at the T1D.

They had asked the airport operator to allow them to move to T1D, which was their base of operations before T3 was built.