The Center is in talks with the Tamil Nadu government for a second
airport in Chennai required by 2030-2035, Airports Authority of India
(AAI) Chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra said today.
Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey and AAI officials have held two
meeting with the Tamil Nadu government in the last three months to
discuss the matter.
"Eighteen months back, we were handling 28 movements per hour (at
Chennai) and after making improvements in our air navigation system, we
hope to reach 40. With this, we expect we will be managing Chennai till
2030 or 2035. But a city like Chennai will definitely require a second
airport thereafter," Mohapatra told reporters.
According to a study carried out by aviation think-tank Centre for Asia
Pacific Aviation (CAPA), Chennai handled 18.4 million passengers in 2016
and is expected to reach its maximum capacity of 23-26 million
passengers by 2020, if traffic grows at an estimated rate of 12.5 per
cent.
The CAPA adds that while there are plans to expand capacity to 30
million passengers per year at Chennai airport, airside (hangars,
runway, parking bay) constraints could pose a big challenge.
The think-tank estimates an expenditure of $500 million for a second airport in Chennai.
No comments:
Post a Comment