CHENNAI : Chennai airport may have the smallest parcel of land when compared to other airports at Bengaluru and Hyderabad, but it is betting big on the Rs 2,467 crore Phase II modernisation programme which could be a game-changer in wooing passengers with world class amenities in the next 42 months.
The airport director Chandramouli, under whose tenure the second phase of modernisation is taking place, is hoping to bring in remarkable changes in the 150 acres belonging to the airport. After the completion of integrated terminal, the airport will have provision for E-Gates, bio metric based passenger processing systems, self-service and self-tagging kiosks with self-bag-drop counters, 140 check-in counters, baggage screening system with automatic sorting and inline CTX machine and automatic tray retrieval system for hand baggage.
As the old terminal building has been brought down and excavation by Larsen and Toubro has begun, all eyes are on the arrival Terminal-4 building which will be converted to departure terminal to decongest the existing international terminal by next month-end.
The terminal has been lying idle for the last five years.
The converted departure level has been upgraded with 22 Common Use Terminal Equipment enabled check-in counters, 11 immigration counters, two boarding gate counters, four hand baggage scanners, eight door frame metal detectors, four exclusive ladies frisking booths, three registered baggage scanners, two common use self service (CUSS) bag tag facility and airlines back-up offices.
Not only that Chennai airport is also planning to enhance the airport capacity through airside infrastructural developments by increasing the capacity of 36 aircraft movement per hour to 45 aircraft movement per hour by 2026-27. The parking capacity of airport will also be enhanced from 86 to 129 aircraft, the director said during the occasion to mark 500 aircraft movements a day from Chennai airport.
The runway is being straightened so that Chennai airport can cater to two wide-bodied aircraft at a time. Meanwhile, the ‘bhoomi puja’ for the proposed `250 crore multi-level car parking site on 4.25 acres was conducted on Friday.