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Chennai International Airport

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Chennai International Airport

சென்னை பன்னாட்டு விமான நிலையம்
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorAirports Authority of India
ServesChennai Metropolitan Area
LocationChennai, India
Elevation AMSL42 ft / 13 m
Coordinates12°59′40″N 80°10′50″E / 12.99444°N 80.18056°E / 12.99444; 80.18056
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
07/25 12,001 3,658 Asphalt
12/30 6,708 2,045 Asphalt/Concrete
Statistics (2005)
Number of Passengers10 million

Chennai International Airport (சென்னை பன்னாட்டு விமான நிலையம்) (IATA: MAA, ICAO: VOMM) is located in Meenambakkam, 7 km south of Chennai, India. It is the third largest international gateway into the country and the third busiest airport in India after Mumbai and Delhi,[1][2] and the main air hub for south India, handling just under 10 million passengers in 2005 and serving more than 50 different airlines. It is also an important cargo terminus for the country, after Mumbai. Chennai is also a hub airport for Jet Airways, Deccan, Air Sahara (now JetLite), and Air India. It is the airport which is usually considered after Delhi and Mumbai to operate flights to and from any country.


History

The old terminal at Meenambakkam

Chennai had one of the first airports in India, and was the final destination of Air India's first flight from Bombay via Belgaum in 1954. The first passenger terminal was built at the northeast side of the airfield, which lies in the suburb of Meenambakkam due to which it was referred to as Meenambakkam Airport. A new terminal complex was subsequently built further south near Pallavaram to which passenger operations were shifted. The old terminal building is now used as a cargo terminal and is the base for the Indian courier company Blue Dart.

Structure

Chennai Airport at night

Chennai International Airport consists of three terminals: The old terminal at Meenambakkam is used for cargo, while the new passenger terminal complex near Pallavaram 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, it was built incrementally, with the Kamaraj and Anna terminals being added in 1988 to the pre-existing Meenambakkam terminal.

The first part to be built was the International terminal which had two aerobridges (jetways), followed by the domestic terminal with three aerobridges. After the completion of the domestic terminal, the old terminal at Meenambakkam was used exclusively for cargo. Recently the International terminal was extended further south by adding a new block which includes three aerobridges. At present, the new international block is used for departures while the older building is used for arrivals.

The airport has the honour of being the first ISO 9001:2000 certified airport in the country, which it received in 2001.

Communication and Navigation

Communication at VOMM/MAA
Agency Frequency (MHz)
Chennai Tower 118.1
Chennai Ground 121.9
Chennai Radar 125.7, 127.9
Chennai ATIS 126.4
Chennai Approach/Departure 127.9, 119.5
Chennai Center 118.9, 125.3, 125.75
Navigation at VOMM/MAA
Navaid ID Frequency
VOR-DME MMV 112.5
NDB MV 228

Source: [1]

Facts and Figures

Currently, Chennai Airport handles about 25 aircraft movement every hour, which will be saturated by the year 2014-15. However, peak hour traffic handling capability will be exhausted much earlier than that.

File:Anna International Terminal.jpg
Anna International Terminal

Anna International Terminal handled 2.8 Million passengers in 2006-07. It has the capacity of handling 3 million passengers annually, which will be saturated by 2007-08. Similarly, Kamaraj Domestic Terminal, which handled 5.9 million passengers in 2006-07, has the capacity to handle 6 million passengers annually. This capacity is also expected to be saturated by 2007-08. The airport's cargo handling capacity will be saturated around the same time.



Modernisation and expansion

File:Chennai Upgraded Terminal.jpg
Upgraded Baggage Claim Area at the international terminal

The airport at Meenambakkam 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 handling buildings. The expansion works will involve the acquisition of land in nearby areas. The expansion of the existing airport would be taken up at Manapakkam, Kolapakkam, Kerugambakkam and Tharapakkam in Sriperumbudur taluk after a resolution to this effect was adopted by at the secretariat.

The government would provide suitable compensation to 947 households in these areas and also rehabilitation to them. The rehabilitation of the households would be done in the first phase of the expansion work itself.

The modernisation and restructuring is expected to cost around Rs 2,350 crore, of which the cost of construction of the runway, taxiway and apron would be around Rs 1,100 crore, while the cost of construction of the terminal building, cargo building, car park and face uplift would be Rs 1,250 crore.

Facts

A scene from the viewing gallery

1. In 2006-07, the existing airport handled 97,680 aircraft movement and its capacity to handle aircraft movement is likely to be saturated by 2014-15.

2. The existing airport can handle about 25 aircraft movement per hour and even after expansion, the airport will get saturated by 2014-15 and the Greenfield Airport has to be ready then. The same logic has been applied in Mumbai, where the Navi Mumbai airport is to be ready in time the existing ones gets saturated around the same time.

3. The AAI is of the view that a logical thing would be to construct a new domestic terminal and allow simultaneous use of the cross runways there. These things can take us through till the year 2015.

New Greenfield Airport to be set up near Chennai

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has announced the setting up of a new Greenfield Airport at Sriperumbudur and Tiruvallur taluks, apart from the expansion of the existing airport at Meenambakkam.

The greenfield airport would come up on 4,820.66 acres (19.5 km²), expansion of Chennai airport would be done on 1,069.99 acres (4.3 km²) at an estimated cost of Rs 2,000 crore.

Initially the work for the greenfield airports was be entrusted to the Airports Authority of India (AAI). However, the greenfield airport, mooted by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, coming up at Sriperumbudur near Chennai will be developed under a public-private partnership. The Prime Minister’s Committee has also asked for a pre-feasibility report for this airport.

The green field airport would have four runways.Eyeing Chennai airport, leading global airport developers are forging alliances with Indian players for bidding for the project. The players interested in the project include Changi Airports, Macquarie, GMR Group, GVK Group and Tata Group.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has clarified that “there is no role for the AAI in developing the greenfield airport near Chennai”.


Proposed New Chennai Airport - Domestic Terminal

Chennai Airport to be India’s Greenest[3]

The Airports Authority of India has chosen plans by a team of architects including Frederic Schwartz Architects, Hargreaves Associates, Gensler, and New Delhi-based Creative Group to expand the Chennai International Airport’s domestic and international terminals. When completed in 2010, the $300 million project will transform Chennai, located in the city formerly known as Madras, into India’s greenest airport.

Images: Courtesy Frederic Schwartz Architects


The revamped Kamraj Domestic Terminal will feature what designers describe as a “green gate”: a parking garage with a green roof and rainwater capture systems. Two one-acre gardens will form a central element within the terminal (top). The terminal’s wing-like curved roof is supported on large, full-height columns. The forward slope of these elements will work with the stiffness of the trusses to resist transverse wind and seismic forces. Along the building’s 984-foot length, the V-shaped configuration of support columns will work integrally with a compression truss to create a repetitive series of stable triangulated elements to resist longitudinal forces. Large, arching space-frame trusses will allow for column-free public spaces on both the landside and airside terminal areas. Expansive glass curtain walls will boost the feeling of airiness and spaciousness, as will skylights.

The airport is situated on the busy Chennai - Trichy National Highway (a.k.a. Grand Southern Trunk or GST Road) and is also served by the Airport station (Tirusulam) on the Suburban railway network.The proposed Metro Rail System(Chennai Metro) is also said to connect the Airport with other important places in Chennai.

Terminals and destinations

Domestic flights in Chennai International Airport are handled at the Kamaraj Domestic Terminal (KDT), while the Anna International Terminal (AIT) is for international flights. The old terminal at Meenambakkam is used for cargo operations.

Kamaraj Terminal (Domestic)

  • Air India
    • Air India Regional operated by Alliance Air (Bangalore, Bhubhaneshwar, Kolkata)
    • Indian Airlines (Bangalore, Calicut, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Madurai, Mumbai, Port Blair, Trichy, Thiruvananthapuram, Vizag)
    • Air India Express (Mumbai, Trichy)
  • Air Deccan (Bangalore, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Madurai, Mumbai, Port Blair, Pune, Rajamundry, Trichy, Tuticorin, Vijaywada, Vizag)
  • Go Air (Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad)
  • IndiGo (Hyderabad, Delhi, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore)
  • Jet Airways (Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Madurai, Mumbai, Port Blair, Pune, Thiruvananthapuram)
  • JetLite (formerly Air Sahara) (Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Delhi, Mumbai)
  • Kingfisher Airlines (Bangalore, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Mumbai, Pune, Thiruvananthapuram, Vizag)
  • Paramount Airways (Bangalore, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Kochi, Madurai, Thiruvananthapuram, Vizag)
  • SpiceJet (Ahmedabad, Bagdogra, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune)

Anna Terminal (International)

Cargo terminal

References

  1. ^ "MAA airport profile". Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
  2. ^ "Changi, Tatas to bid for Chennai, Kolkata airports". The Hindu. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
  3. ^ Proposed New Chennai Airport - Domestic Terminal
  4. ^ Cathay Pacific Official Announcement
  5. ^ Kenya Airways interested to fly to Chennai
  6. ^ Airlines from Pakistan allowed to fly to Chennai,"The Hindu Business line"


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