Six locations shortlisted for city’s second airport
State govt. likely to hold talks with AAI officials in a few days
22/09/2019, SANGEETHA KANDAVEL , SUNITHA SEKAR ,CHENNAI
After dilly-dallying for years on a second airport for the city, the State government has now shortlisted six locations.
Highly-placed sources told The Hindu that Thiruporur, Vallathur, Thodur, Cheyyar, Maduramangalam and Mappedu are on the shortlist.
In a few days, the State government is likely to hold talks with officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to see which site would be feasible to build the new airport. A field visit will also be conducted.
“There are several locations on the radar. We have shortlisted six from them. In fact, one of the locations was identified two months back. But AAI officials felt it was not suitable, in view of technical factors,” said a senior government official. The land requirement for the second airport will be around 2,000-2,500 acres, said AAI officials.
‘In dire need’
“There is a dire need for a second airport as the existing facility is already getting saturated,” said an AAI official.
After the phase II modernisation project gets completed in two years, the airport’s passenger-handling capacity will go up from the existing 18 million to 35 million.
“This won’t be enough. With the rate at which air traffic is going up, we need one more airport at the earliest. If we begin identifying the location, it will take some time to get approvals from authorities, begin land acquisition and then build the terminals at the new airport,” an official said.
State govt. likely to hold talks with AAI officials in a few days
22/09/2019, SANGEETHA KANDAVEL , SUNITHA SEKAR ,CHENNAI
After dilly-dallying for years on a second airport for the city, the State government has now shortlisted six locations.
Highly-placed sources told The Hindu that Thiruporur, Vallathur, Thodur, Cheyyar, Maduramangalam and Mappedu are on the shortlist.
In a few days, the State government is likely to hold talks with officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to see which site would be feasible to build the new airport. A field visit will also be conducted.
“There are several locations on the radar. We have shortlisted six from them. In fact, one of the locations was identified two months back. But AAI officials felt it was not suitable, in view of technical factors,” said a senior government official. The land requirement for the second airport will be around 2,000-2,500 acres, said AAI officials.
‘In dire need’
“There is a dire need for a second airport as the existing facility is already getting saturated,” said an AAI official.
After the phase II modernisation project gets completed in two years, the airport’s passenger-handling capacity will go up from the existing 18 million to 35 million.
“This won’t be enough. With the rate at which air traffic is going up, we need one more airport at the earliest. If we begin identifying the location, it will take some time to get approvals from authorities, begin land acquisition and then build the terminals at the new airport,” an official said.
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