Chennai Airport News: AAI Plans Two-Phase Expansion to Boost Capacity
Chennai Airport News
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has prepared a two-phase plan to get more capacity out of Chennai airport. The move follows the Tamil Nadu government’s decision to scrap the Parandur greenfield airport project. Officials say the plan could give the state a 15 to 20-year window to develop a new greenfield airport.
The site for a new airport has not been finalised yet, so AAI wants to make better use of the existing one. Chennai airport now handles 2.3 crore passengers a year, with growth of nearly 2.4 percent. Its present capacity is 3 crore passengers. The plan aims to double aircraft movements from 18 an hour to 36 at first, and then to 45 in the longer term.
An AAI official said the capacity will rise to 3.5 crore passengers by April 2027. Terminal 1 will handle 1 crore passengers a year. Terminals 2 and 3 together will handle 1.6 crore after work is completed. Terminal 4 will take another 90 lakh.
Seven rapid-exit taxiways on the main runway and three on the secondary runway will help aircraft clear the runway faster. They are due by March 2028. Parking space is another problem. Only nine domestic and four international aerobridges can be used now, so passengers are often taken by bus from remote stands. The airport plans 17 aerobridges and 23 parking bays by April 2027. Stormwater drainage works are also under way to prevent a repeat of the 2015 runway flooding.
The second phase focuses on a fifth terminal (T5) for 2 crore passengers a year. It will come up on airport land now used for remote parking. The official said no new land acquisition is needed. 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. A link, possibly a tunnel, between T5 and the existing terminals is also being studied.
To ease traffic on GST Road, the airport has taken over 19.06 acres of former Indian Airlines land as a truck holding area. Cargo stands will 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.
Ajeet Yadav is an aviation enthusiast covering airline news, airports, aircraft, and industry developments through well-researched and reliable reporting.
