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The city is likely to get more domestic flights during peak hours in a few months as an additional departure and arrival terminal will be ready at the Chennai airport.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) will soon start work to modify the old international departure terminal (T4) that was vacated after flights were shifted to the new terminal and an unused arrival terminal on the ground floor for domestic flights in the first week of this month. When the work is completed, the airport will have two domestic terminals, one on each side of the integrated international terminal. The terminals will be interlinked for transit passengers.
The ground floor of the old terminal was lying vacant since 2013. The work to change and add facilities to handle domestic passengers will begin soon after a security inspection. A contractor will be hired for changing signage and facilities, an official said.
“Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) will inspect the building in a few days. After they clear the building, the authority will start work to remove or rearrange facilities on the first floor which was once an international terminal. We have started installing baggage conveyors on the ground floor arrival terminal,” said an official.
This ambitious initiative aims to construct Greenfield Airports, develop new terminals, bolster existing terminals, and strengthen runways, among other crucial projects. Notably, to meet the sustainable aviation goals, 55 airports, including 49 managed by AAI, have successfully transitioned to 100 per cent green energy, marking a significant achievement in the industry’s sustainable transformation.
The arrival terminal on the ground floor will get three baggage conveyors. The immigration and customs counters and duty free shop will be removed to make the first floor ready for domestic departures. The airport will be able to handle 19 million passengers per year after the terminals are converted for domestic passengers. The present capacity is less than 15 million passengers per year.”The airport is likely to get more flights for the summer schedule. Some flights will be shifted out of the peak hours to ease congestion,” said the official. Of the 450-plus flight movements (arrivals and departures), at least 60 each happen during the windows of 5am-10am and 5pm-8.30pm.
Now the airport handles more than 30 domestic arrivals and departures in the mornings and evenings. AAI is planning to demolish the old international arrival building to build a new one in its place.
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