Chennai airport’s multi-level car parking opened; passengers face long queues due to traffic congestion

Officials of Airports Authority of India (AAI) acknowledge the inconvenience and promise to sort it out soon

Three years after the construction began, Chennai airport’s multi-level car parking (MLCP) was thrown open for air passengers on Sunday. But on day one, passengers faced hardship as they had to wait in serpentine queues for exiting the Chennai airport as there was heavy traffic congestion.

Officials of Airports Authority of India (AAI) acknowledged the inconvenience. Further the AAI officials said there was a vehicle pile up since it was only the first day of operations for the new facility. This would be stabilised very soon as efforts were under way to resolve the issue, they assured.

Sridhar Joshi, a resident of Perambur, who came to drop his friend, said, “It was chaotic and confusing to enter and exit. They need more signage and personnel to regulate the traffic. They have to also make alternate arrangements for arriving passengers, failing which they have to walk a long distance to board a cab or vehicle.”

Moorthy, a cab driver said, there was no clarity on how to enter the different terminals and parking lot. “It was a very time consuming effort too. They should ease the congestion at the earliest,” he added.

Through their Twitter handle, Chennai airport posted: “The MLCP operation has commenced today and we request all our valued passengers to cooperate till the time vehicular flow inside airport premises is stabilised acquainting with the new system. Be rest assured that with commencing of MLCP a robust system of parking is in place.”

In the new system, private vehicles that enter the Chennai airport for picking up and dropping off passengers should exit the premises within ten minutes failing which they will have to pay a fee. With two wings, the parking lot can house 40 two-wheelers and 728 cars in the east wing, 1,450 cars can be accommodated in the west wing.

Officials said the cabs would have designated points to pick up in the ground floor of the west wing and first floor of the east wing for arrival passengers coming out of the domestic and international terminals.