The new airport terminal capable of handling 300 passengers at one go would be ready by the month end, Tourism Minister P Rajavelu said here on Wednesday.
The administration is in touch with private carriers to commence operations from Puducherry, the minister announced after a visit to the airport on Wednesday. “We have written to Jet Airways, Spice Jet to depute their technical team to analyse the feasibility of operating flights from Puducherry to other destinations,” Rajavelu said. He added that he would also be approaching the carriers personally to explore the scope of flight operations.
Rajavelu noted that a committee would be constituted to discuss details of air services from Puducherry. We have also requested the AAI to explore the possibilities of shifting the airport entrance from Lawspet to Puducherry Tindivanam road as the Lawspet road is already congested, he said. Rajavelu added that the Tamil Nadu government had already been requested to provide 200 acres of land for airport expansion to operate bigger aircraft in the second phase of the development project. Once the land was provided, the Puducherry airport would match international standards, Rajavelu said.
The Airport Authority of India has also requested the minister for facilitating the electrical connection to the new terminal and expediting the No Objection Certificate (NOC) from fire service.
So far, the government has spent Rs 18.95 crore on land acquisition and Rs 9.83 crore on construction of box culvert for sewage pipelines crossing the runway.