Nod to Kolkata, Chennai airports upgrade

The government today approved modernisation of two important airports — Kolkata and Chennai — which would be developed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) at project costs of Rs 1,942.51 crore and Rs 1,808 crore, respectively.

“The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given its approval to modernisation of both Chennai and Kolkata airports. Modernisation of both these airports will be completed in close to three years. Thereafter, these airports will be on a par with airports like Delhi and Mumbai,” said Civil Aviation Minster Praful Patel.

Work on the projects is slated to start by September this year.

Post modernisation, the Kolkata airport will be able to handle 24 million passengers, around five times of its current capacity. The Kolkata airport handled 1.01 million international and 6.45 million domestic passengers in 2007-08.

The airport has witnessed 6.4 per cent growth in international traffic and 21.4 per cent growth in domestic traffic over the last five years. It is estimated that it will witness growth of around 19 per cent per annum up to 2011-12. The growth rate thereafter is expected to stabilise at 14.5 per cent up to 2015-16.

In the existing Kolkata airport, the domestic terminal can handle 4.06 million passengers per annum, while the international terminal can handle 0.88 million passengers.

Thus, both the terminals are already saturated. The proposed new integrated building, with an area of 180,000 square metres, will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 1,617.51 crore and will be able to handle 20 million passengers.

The combined terminal building capacity of 24.06 million passengers per annum is expected to be saturated in 2015-16. The Public Investment Board (PIB) had on May 30 approved the proposal for the Kolkata airport.

On the other hand, the capacity of the Chennai airport after modernisation will go up from the current nine million passengers per annum to 23 million per annum. The project includes construction of a new domestic terminal building with an area of 67,700 square metres.

Together with the existing domestic terminal, the airport will be able to handle 16 million domestic passengers, almost triple more than its current capacity of six million.

Also, the existing international terminal will be extended by another 59,300 square metres. This will enable the airport to handle seven million passengers per annum from the current three million.

The modernisation also involves extension of the second runway by another 832 metres (to make 2,917 metres), which will entail construction of a culvert over the Adyar river near the airport, making it the only airport in India to have a runway over a river.

The extended international terminal building is expected to reach the saturation point in 2017-18. The new domestic terminal building is expected to saturate in 2012-13.