Chennai will be ready to receive the wide-bodied Airbus-380 aircraft in another 26 months, with the shoulders of the main runway getting widened, as part of the Rs 1,800-crore airport expansion project.
A secondary runway that can handle simultaneous landing will also be a reality then, as it is being expanded.
Work on the airport expansion is all set to begin as about 130 acres of land across the Adyar river has been acquired.
To enhance capacity, parallel taxi tracks and parking bays will be constructed for both the main and secondary runways, besides 25 additional parking bays.
A two-level terminal building, with approximately 67,000 sqm on each level, is also a part of the expansion plan, to accommodate an additional 23 million passengers, both in international and domestic sides. Six aerobridges are also being constructed with these terminals. These facilities will host 140 check-in counters and 60 immigration counters.
With the increasing passenger traffic, parking capacity for vehicles also need to be taken into consideration. Two multi-level car parks are being constructed, each of which can provide space for 1,300 cars.
However, with the expansion project taking off, it is doubtful if the Greenfield airport will come into being immediately, though necessary land has already been acquired for the project.
Airline officials groan
Even if Airbus-380 manages to land in Chennai, can the airport handle the 600 odd passengers who will be disembarking from a flight, asks representatives of Emirates and Singapore Airlines that have the aircraft in their fleet.
“Since the terminal now has the capacity to handle not more than 400 passengers at a time, where will we land the passengers?” the representatives ask. “Where will they check-in? There is no scope until the support system is in place,” said a representative of Emirates.
With the number of passengers increasing by the day, every airline operator has a complaint on poor ground level facilities and mediocre infrastructure at the airport.
“We receive complaints from passengers almost on a daily basis about the airport facilities,” said a manager of a leading airline.
The number of check-in counters is less, resulting in a longer waiting time. The number of immigration counters is also not enough to meet the demand.
The number of passengers using the international terminal has increased by 13 per cent since 2006.
“There is no floor space at the airport to accommodate this kind of passenger traffic,” say airline operators.
Due to lack of aerobridges and parking bays, flights have to wait for their turn.
On any given day, if there is more number of flights taking off within a stipulated time, the passenger woes start with congestion at the entrance. “The CISF here is short-staffed. This causes delay at every security point – entrance, in-line scanning, security check,” another operator pointed out.
Moreover, only a few women CRPF personnel means women passengers to be frisked have to take a long route to do so. CISF men attribute this problem to the bunching of flights, which, again, is a problem the airport authorities have to deal with.
To make processes simpler and more effective, airline operators Committee had requested for a Common User Terminal System (CUTE) which facilitates flight ground staff to access passenger information at multiple check-in counters. “Out of the 33 check-in counters at the international terminal only 17 are CUTE enabled and nine are mobile.We have been pushing for a well connected CUTE system since 2003 but nothing has been done yet,” complained an airline operator.
Basic things like sanitation facilities at the airport are in bad shape. Airport toilets are so badly maintained that passengers shudder to use them.
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