Government clears Rs 5,082-crore plan to build new terminals at Chennai, two other airports

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by prime minister Narendra Modi, has given its approval for the expansion and upgradation of integrated terminals at Chennai, Guwahati and Lucknow airports, at a cost of Rs 2,467 crores, Rs 1,383 crores and Rs 1,232 crores, respectively, union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, on May 2, 2018.

“The government has taken a historic measure, to improve airport infrastructure in the country,” the electronics and IT, and law and justice minister said, while briefing media about the decisions taken at the cabinet and the CCEA meetings.

The new terminal building approved for the Chennai airport, will have a capacity to handle 35 million passengers per annum and take care of the growth requirement till 2027, civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu said. The total built-up area of the proposed terminal building at Chennai airport, will be expanded to 3,36,000 sq metres. The new terminal building will incorporate green building features, with an aim to achieve GRIHA 4-Star rating, an official release said.

The proposed terminal building at the Lucknow airport will have a capacity to handle 13.6 million passengers a year and will cater to growth requirements up to 2030-31. It will be a major force multiplier towards Uttar Pradesh’s growth, Prabhu tweeted. The expanded integrated terminal will have an area of 88,000 sq metres, along with the existing terminal building with 16,292 sq metres, to handle 2.6 million international and 11 million domestic passenger traffic. The new terminal building at the Guwahati airport will have an area of 1,02,500 sq metres, to handle combined annual capacity (old and new terminals) of nine million passengers per annum. The building would cater to the requirement of passenger growth up to 2026-27.

“This will encourage investment and tourism in NER (north-eastern region), with thrust on the ‘Act East’ Policy,” the release said. Prasad said India has witnessed phenomenal growth rate of 18 to 20 per cent in the aviation sector in the last three years. According to IATA Traffic Study, India, at seventh position as of now, is likely to take third position by 2023-24, by overtaking the UK, Japan, Spain and Germany. The current rate of the growth in the domestic aviation sector of India, is the highest globally. The aviation market grew close to 30 per cent in April 2018.

“To meet the growing demand, the government of India has launched a new initiative of NABH Nirman (NextGen Airports for Bharat), wherein systems and processes are geared to provide enhanced airport capacity, to handle one billion trips in the next 10 to 15 years,” Prasad said. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has already awarded works at Agartala, Calicut and Port Blair, towards the construction of new integrated terminals and is in the process, to immediately approve works for upgradation and expansion of capacity at Chennai, Lucknow and Guwahati airports, according to the official release.

Similarly, upgradation of airside capacity, by way of strengthening and extension of runways and construction of new apron bays, has been taken up to cater to the demand from airline operators who have placed confirmed orders for almost 900 aircrafts in the coming 10 years. Under the New Greenfield Airport Policy, many major cities are expected to have multiple airports.

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