Chennai to get a second airport, six locations shortlisted

Increasing air traffic in the city has led to the need of a new airport, according to reports.

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After several years of discussions, talks on a second airport in Chennai may finally bear fruit with the state government shortlisting six new locations for the same.

According to The Hindu, the newly shortlisted locations for a second city airport included Thiruporur, Cheyyar, Vallathur, Thodur, Maduramangalam and Mappedu.

The state government is also likely to hold talks with officials of the Airports Authority of India to decide which location would be the most feasible to build a second airport. A site visit and inspection too is likely to be held, according to reports.

The land requirement for the new airport is around 2000 to 2500 acres and the locations were shortlisted from a bunch of places that were initially identified. One of the places was identified around two months ago but failed to be approved by the AAI for technical reasons and lack of suitability.

According to reports, the city needs a second airport due to the existing airport getting saturated due to the increasing air traffic. With the Chennai airport’s phase-2 modernisation project being completed in the next two years, the airports passenger capacity may see an increase from 18 million to 35 million. The modernisation work will see a new integrated terminal, a multi level car parking lot and other works.

However, the increasing air traffic has made it necessary to identify a new location for a second airport, according to reports.

Earlier, Sriperumbudur was first considered as one of the locations for a second airport but was however dropped citing insufficient land available in the region. Apart from this, Pattalam and Cheyyur were also identified. Rapid exit taxiways are also being constructed which will help increase aircraft movement per hour significantly, sources from AAI had told The Hindu back in May 2019.