CHENNAI: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has drawn up a two-phase optimisation plan for Chennai airport following the state government’s decision to scrap the Parandur greenfield airport project, a strategy that could give the state a 15-20-year window to develop a new greenfield airport, official sources told TNIE.
With a site for the proposed greenfield airport yet to be finalised, the AAI’s plan seeks to extract more capacity from the existing airport. It aims to double aircraft movements from 18 an hour to 36 initially, and then to 45 in the longer term. The airport now handles 2.3 crore passengers a year with growth at nearly 2.4% against a capacity of 3 crore.
That should change by April 2027, with the capacity climbing to 3.5 crore when Terminal 1 will handle 1 crore passengers a year, 1.6 crore in Terminals 2 and 3 together after work finishes, and another 90 lakh at Terminal 4, an AAI official said.
Rapid-exit taxiways, seven on the main runway and three on the secondary, to let aircraft clear the runway faster are due for completion by March 2028. Parking is the other constraint.
Only nine domestic and four international aerobridges are usable, as a result, aircraft are parked at remote bays and passengers are transported by buses from remote stands. The airport plans 17 aerobridges and 23 parking bays by April 2027. This could mean Chennai airport could cater to 23 aircraft at a stretch.
Public demand for domestic flights to use the international remote stands cannot be met until Terminal 3 opens, the official said. Terminal 4 now takes about half the load, and the new terminal should spread traffic more evenly. Stormwater drainage works are also under way to avoid a repeat of the runway flooding that closed the airport in 2015.
The second phase centres on the fifth terminal (T5) for 2 crore passengers a year, on airport land now used for remote parking. No new land acquisition is needed, he said trashing out reports of land acquisition.T5 depends on an elevated corridor to NH32 and the Outer Ring Road. The state has submitted four-lane and six-lane designs, but the detailed project report has not started. The airport is also studying a link, possibly a tunnel, between T5 and the existing terminals.
Cargo is meant to ease pressure on GST Road. The airport has taken over 19.06 acres of former Indian Airlines land as a truck holding area with a token system. The official said the corridor could divert more than half of the road traffic. Cargo stands would rise from nine to 14, including four for freighters. The airport is also exploring folded-wing (Code F) operations to carry more passengers on fewer flights.