Chennai second airport latest news: Tamil Nadu government plans new infra to decongest traffic; announcement soon

Chennai could soon get a second airport. The Tamil Nadu government is planning to announce a new airport that would decongest the traffic at Chennai's International Airport, state's Minister for Industries Thangam Thennarasu said. 

Thennarasu on Tuesday met with Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and had detailed discussions on various topics including the second airport in Chennai. 

“Met the Minister of Industries, Tamil Nadu, Sri @TThenarasu ji. Discussed various issues related to airport infrastructure and ramping up flight connectivity for the state,” Scindia said in a Tweet.

The need for a second airport in Chennai was felt due to a surge in passenger traffic which hit 220 lakh yearly. The current airport at Meenambakkam has a capacity to handle 150 lakh passenger traffic per year. 

"Eighteen months back, we were handling 28 movements per hour (at Chennai) and after making improvements in our air navigation system, we hope to reach 40. With this, we expect we will be managing Chennai till 2030 or 2035. But a city like Chennai will definitely require a second airport thereafter," Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra had said. 

A team of experts from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) conducted inspections at four locations — Padalam, Pannur, Thiruporur, and Parandur a few months ago, a IANS report said. 

After the joint inspection, the TIDCO had submitted a pre-feasibility report and had given its recommendations. 

According to IANS sources, Pannur and Parandur are shortlisted for the second airport and that Pannur has an advantage over Parandur. The state government has identified 4,500 acres of land at Pannur and 4,971 at Parandur.  

The average travel distance to Pannur will be 49 km from the city and the time will be 1 hour and 26 minutes. The average distance to Parandur will be 73 km and the time taken will be 1 hour and 54 minutes, the IANS report further said. 

With Agencies Input