Coimbatore International Airport

Coimbatore International Airport Peelamedu Airport கோயம்புத்தூர் பன்னாட்டு வானூர்தி நிலையம்
IATA: CJB ICAO: VOCB
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Government of India
Operator	Airports Authority of India
Serves	Coimbatore City and its suburbs
Location	Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Elevation AMSL	1,324 ft / 404 m
Coordinates	11°01′48″N 077°02′36″E
Website	www.airportsindia.org.in
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 05/23 9,760 2,990 Asphalt
Statistics (2009 April To July)
International Passenger movements 33,043 International Aircraft movements 284 Domestic Passenger movements 3,44,790 Domestic Aircraft movements 4,766
Source: World Aero Data

Coimbatore International Airport (IATA: CJB, ICAO: VOCB) is an international airport located in Peelamedu, serving Coimbatore. It was previously known as Peelamedu Aerodrome or Coimbatore Civil Aerodrome. It is about 16 km from the city centre.It is located along Pellamedu and Nillambur, with passenger entry at Nillambur and cargo entry at Pellamedu.It is one of the largest is the second-largest cargo hub in Tamil Nadu, after Chennai.It is one of the largest international airport in Tamil Nadu.

History

Started operations in the 1940s as a civil aerodrome, with Indian Airlines operating Fokker F27, Douglas DC-3 and Hawker Siddeley's Avro 748. In its early days, services were mainly to Chennai and Mumbai. Later services to Cochin and Bengaluru were added.The first passenger terminal was built at Pellamedu in 1970sdue to which it was referred to as Pellamedu Airport. In the early 1980s, the airport was closed down for runway expansion, to accommodate modern jets like the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320. Temporarily, airlines were using the nearby Sulur Airbase. In 1987, after completion of the runway expansion and a new terminal, the airport resumed services. In 1995, Indian Airlines started international services to Sharjah, and in 2007 operations were started to the international destinations of Colombo and Singapore.

Structure

Coimbatore Airport currently has one terminal, and one under construction

There are two hangars, one for private carriers and one for the Coimbatore Flying Club. The parking bays in the airport can accommodate a maximum of six aircraft(cargo), and the airport also has a fire station.The old terminal at Pellamedu is used for cargo at-present, while the new passenger terminal complex at Nillambur is used for passenger operations. The passenger terminal complex consists of the domestic and international terminals interconnected by a link building, which houses administrative offices and a restaurant. Although the complex is one continuous structure.The first part to be built was the international terminal which had two aerobridges followed by the domestic terminal with three aerobridges in Nillambur.The old terminal at Pellamedu is used exclusively for cargo. The airport has one runway that is 9,760 feet (2,970 m) in length - previously the runway was 8,500 ft (2,600 m) in length. Because of this runway expansion, the airport can accommodate aircraft such as the Boeing 747 and Airbus A330. An Instrument Landing System (ILS) is also being installed.Although the cargo complex is one continuous structure, it was built incrementally, with the Domestic and International terminals being added in 2007 to the pre-existing Pellamedu terminal.

The further proposed expansion of the airport includes the construction of a parallel taxiway to the runway. This will minimise the runway occupancy time and turnaround of aircraft, as aircraft currently taxi on the runway. Two more parking bays will be added, raising the total number to eight. The terminal will also be modernised with sliding doors, aero-bridges, and modern systems for baggage-handling

Modernisation and Expansion

The Coimbatore Airport has been slated for modernisation and expansion. The works are to be carried out by the Airports Authority of India and include the creation of a parallel runway, taxiways, aprons and new passenger terminal buildings. The expansion works will involve the acquisition of land in nearby areas. The expansion of the existing airport would be taken up at Kallapatti,Chinnayampalayam, and Nellambur taluk after a resolution to this effect was adopted by the government.The existing airport can handle about 17 aircraft movement per hour and even after expansion.

The entire tender process had been completed and contracts worth 350 crore were awarded for the modernisation and expansion for the cargo terminal. According to the terms of references, the construction work should be completed within 24 months from the date of awarding the contract.

The expansion project comprises scaling up the carpet area to 14,000 sq metres on a two-storeyed steel and glass space frame structure, from 6,000 sq mt. The project also includes installation of aero bridges, escalators and four elevators. The passenger handling capacity too would be doubled from the existing 350 at a time.

The apron extension at an investment of 12.5 crore and a parallel taxi track at an outlay of approximately 32 crores were completed recently to handle more aircrafts at a time and to reduce the runway occupancy time of aircrafts.

Airport Terminal Building Opened

Coimbatore: The newly-constructed Coimbatore Airport terminal building with state-of-the-art modern facilities will be opened on Monday noon. Airports Authority of India (AAI) Regional Executive Director D. Devaraj and Coimbatore Airport Director M.R. Vasudeva told The Hindu that the existing terminal building could handle 150 domestic arrival passengers and 150 domestic departure passengers.

Both Mr. Devaraj and Mr. Vasudeva said a building parallel to the existing one was constructed to cater to the increasing number of passengers.

The new building can at a time accommodate 350 passengers arriving at the airport and 350 departing from there. The new building will have all modern facilities - four lifts, four escalators and two aerobridges.A new parallel taxi track, laid at a cost of 31 crore; four state-of-the-art fire tenders; extension of runway; new fire station and a workshop are some of the other facilities added to the airport.Originally there was no air-condition facility at the Coimbatore airport. However, the expanded area will be totally air-conditioned. Facilities such as escalators and lifts will be added to it. Work on the aerobridges is expected to be over in six months.

With the expansion, the area of the building has been increased from 5,962 m² to 14,673 m², having separate domestic and international arrival halls. The new arrival hall has been constructed with three conveyor belts with a loop length of 60 m each as against the two with 13.5 m length functioning in the old building. There is space for a VIP room, customs office, duty free shop, banks etc. Presently, domestic and international passengers are handled through common security hold.

Soon, the existing departure lounge of the terminal building will be enlarged and modified. The AAI with the help of the state highways department has developed a four-lane approach road and two additional service roads.

Proposed new integrated cargo complex

The cargo handling capacity of 40 tonne at a time is also expected to double with additional infrastructure at an outlay of 1.5 crore, work on which has already commenced.An integrated cargo complex of the Coimbatore International Airport which is in Pellamedu was before handling the Domestic and International arrivals,depature.The complex was constructed, at a cost of Indian Rupee symbol.svg 75 crore, in 24 months.The new building would be used exclusively for import activities. Once the civil works were completed, the Automatic Storage and Retrieval System would be installed. It would cost Indian Rupee symbol.svg 75 crore.[7]

Transport links

The airport is situated on the busy Avinashi Road near L&T Bypass juntion ,and is also served by the Airport station (Nillambur) on the Suburban railway network.It is about 7Km from Pellamedu cargo terminal.The Avinashi Road is the main Gathway to Coimbatore City than other arterial roads where the airport is located.

Terminals, airlines and destinations

Scheduled Airlines

Domestic flights operate from the Domestic Terminal, while the international Terminal is for international flights. The old terminal at Pellamedu is used for Cargo Operations atpresent.

A Jet Airways B737 on the tarmac

Airlines	Destinations	Terminal
Air Arabia	Sharjah	International
Indian Airlines	Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mumbai	Domestic
Jet Airways	Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad	Domestic
JetLite	Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai	Domestic
Kingfisher Airlines	Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai	Domestic
Paramount Airways	Chennai	Domestic
Silkair	Singapore	International
SpiceJet	Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai	Domestic
Emirates	Dubai	International
Etihad Airways	Abu Dhabi	International
GoAir	Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai	Domestic
Gulf Air	Bahrain	International
IndiGo	Ahmedabad, Banglore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkatta, Mumbai	Domestic
Jet Airways	Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai	Domestic
Kuwait Airways	Kuwait	International
Oman Air	Muscat	International
Qatar Airways	Doha	International
Air-India Express	Abu Dhabi, Colombo, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Singapore, Thiruvananthapuram	International
Malaysia Airlines	Kuala Lumpur	International

Cargo Terminal

Airlines	Destinations
Air India Cargo	Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderbad
Blue Dart Aviation	Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad
Deccan 360	Delhi, Mumbai, Hong Kong
Etihad Crystal Cargo	Abu Dhabi, Colombo
FedEx Express	Dubai, Memphis, Guangzhou-Baiyun, Sharjah
SriLankan Cargo	Colombo
Thai Airways Cargo	Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi
Singapore Airlines Cargo	Singapore, Amsterdam

Incidents

17 November 2007: An accident at the parking bay of the airport was averted when the wing of a SpiceJet Boeing 737, bound for New Delhi with 130 passengers, almost struck the wing of a stationary Air Deccan A320 aircraft. The aircraft was stopped in time and an accident was averted.

External links

• Coimbatore Peelamedu Airport world-airport-codes
• A 1950 Timetable of Air India International for Coimbatore
• CJB Weather Info
• Business Line article
• Airport Expansion Programme