Excitement in the air: preparing the ground for take off

Tamil Nadu government progresses in airport infrastructure expansion, boosting air travel with new terminals and increased connectivity.

The Tamil Nadu government has made good progress in land acquisition for expanding infrastructure at airports, a major factor that had stalled the expansion plans of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for long at such places as Coimbatore and Tiruchi. After several years, the land acquired for the Coimbatore airport expansion was handed over to the AAI. Enter-upon permission has been granted for a major chunk of the land that the AAI had sought in Tiruchi. The Madurai airport became operational 24x7 recently. Farther down south, a new terminal is coming up at the Thoothukudi airport. All of this augurs well for boosting air travel.

In recent years, the AAI too has been keen on developing the airports in the State realising the potential for growth. More facilities will help in attracting more airlines and increasing the passenger traffic, says S.G. Panicker, Regional Executive Director, Southern Region, AAI. “Apart from concentrating on Chennai, the AAI is prioritising cities, including Tiruchi, Madurai, and Coimbatore, to give a boost to aviation in the State so that there is enhanced connectivity to more destinations. Even in Salem, we have eight movements a day and we want to add more facilities...,” he says.

Work on the long-pending expansion of the Coimbatore International Airport is expected to commence soon, after the AAI issued a letter of approval on October 18, accepting the transfer of the land acquired by the State government. Sources at the Coimbatore airport administration says the details of the land transfer have been forwarded to the AAI headquarters.

In August this year, the Coimbatore Collector gave the AAI enter-upon permission for 472.325 acres of the acquired land, out of which 451.745 acres is patta land and 20.58 acres is poramboke land. Working permission for 148.396 acres of defence land has also been accorded, according to a communication issued in December 2023. The total area identified for the expansion is 632.95 acres, spread across Irugur, Neelambur, Kalapatty, Singanallur, and Uppilipalayam villages.

The key factor for the expansion of the airport, which is spread over 420 acres, is the need for a bigger runway in order to accommodate wide-body aircraft. The existing runway, 05 and 23, is 2,990 metres long and 45 metres wide. Besides an expanded length, the runway needs larger turn pads for handling bigger aircraft. A new terminal building, a new approach road, and other amenities are part of the project.

Coimbatore stands next to Chennai, with 28 daily domestic flights, connecting Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune, and Goa. Four airlines operate international flights to Sharjah, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi. The total passenger movement stands at 9,400-10,000 a day. “With land acquisition completed, the AAI should expedite all other formalities and execute the master plan at the earliest for the construction of a state-of-the-art airport, with the involvement of local stakeholders at every stage. The Ministry of Civil Aviation should include the Coimbatore airport as a point of call in the ASEAN Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) to increase international operations,” says Vanitha Mohan, vice-chairperson of Kongu Global Forum (KGF), an association of industrial, business and trade leaders from the western districts.

Making the city a point of call under the BASA is a major demand in Tiruchi, too, where the district authorities have made good progress in land acquisition for the expansion of the airport runway. After the first phase of the runway extension from 6,000 to about 8,000 feet, the AAI had drawn up plans in 2010-11 to expand the runway further to 12,000 feet to facilitate the operation of bigger and wide-body aircraft. The AAI then requested the government for about 500 acres of land, including about 167 acres of defence land.