Chennai International Airport

Chennai International Airport சென்னை பன்னாட்டு வானூர்தி நிலையம்
The Chennai Airport undergoing development work
IATA: MAA – ICAO: VOMM MAA Location of airport in India
Summary
Airport type		Public
Owner		Government of India
Operator		Airports Authority of India
Serves		Chennai Metropolitan Area
Location		Tirusulam, Chennai (Madras)
Hub for		Air India Air India Cargo Blue Dart Aviation Jet Airways Spicejet
Elevation AMSL		52 ft / 16 m
Coordinates		12°58′56″N 80°9′49″E / 12.98222°N 80.16361°E / 12.98222; 80.16361Coordinates: 12°58′56″N 80°9′49″E / 12.98222°N 80.16361°E / 12.98222; 80.16361
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
07/25	12,001	3,658	Asphalt
12/30	6,708	2,045	Asphalt/Concrete
Statistics (Apr '10-Mar '11)
Passenger movements			12,049,679
Airfreight movements in tonnes			249,523
Aircraft movements			124,100
Source: DAFIF[1][2]

Chennai International Airport (IATA: MAA, ICAO: VOMM) (Tamil: சென்னை பன்னாட்டு வானூர்தி நிலையம் ), formerly known as Madras International Airport is located in Tirusulam, 7 km (4.3 mi) south of Chennai (Madras), India. For the financial year 2010-11, it was the third busiest airport in India in terms of both international and overall passenger traffic,^[3] which is expected to double after March 2012 when its ongoing expansion will be completed^[4] and aircraft movements increase from 27 to 50 flights per hour.^[5]

It is located along Meenambakkam and Tirusulam with passenger entry at Tirusulam and cargo entry at Meenambakkam. The International terminal is named after Former Late Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Annadurai. The domestic terminal is named after another former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Kamaraj. It was built on land donated by former governor of Madras Presidency, L. Sriramulu Naidu.

History

The old terminal(1945) at Meenambakkam

Madras (Chennai) had one of the first airports in India and was the final destination of Air India's first flight from Bombay (Mumbai) via Belgaum in 1954. The first passenger terminal was built at the northeast side of the airfield, which lies in the suburb of Meenambakkam due to which it was referred to as Meenambakkam Airport. A new terminal complex was subsequently built at Tirusulam, further south near Pallavaram to which, passenger operations were shifted. The old terminal building is now used as a cargo terminal and is the base for the Indian courier company Blue Dart.

Structure

Chennai Airport at night

Chennai International Airport consists of three terminals: The old terminal at Meenambakkam is used for cargo, while the new passenger terminal complex at Tirusulam is used for passenger operations. The passenger terminal complex consists of the domestic and international terminals interconnected by a link building, which houses administrative offices and a restaurant. Although the complex is one continuous structure, it was built incrementally, with the Kamaraj and Anna terminals being added in 1988 to the pre-existing Meenambakkam terminal.

The first part to be built was the international terminal which had two aerobridges (jetways), followed by the domestic terminal with three aerobridges. After the completion of the domestic terminal, the old terminal at Meenambakkam was used exclusively for cargo. Recently the international terminal was extended further south by adding a new block which includes three aerobridges. At present, the new international block is used for departures while the older building is used for arrivals.

The international and the domestic terminals cover an area of 1.5 km² and 1.8 km², respectively. The airport is divided into two circles, with five zones each, for administrative conveniences.^[6]

Modernisation and expansion

The Chennai Airport has been slated for modernisation and expansion. The works are to be carried out by the Airports Authority of India and include the creation of a parallel runway, taxiways, aprons and new passenger terminal buildings. The expansion works will involve the acquisition of land in nearby areas. The expansion of the existing airport would be taken up at Manapakkam, Kolapakkam, Gerugambakkam and Tharapakkam in Sriperumbudur taluk after a resolution to this effect was adopted by the government. The cabinet has handed over 1069.99 acres for the overall expansion. This includes 233.01 acres from Manapakkam, 394.91 acres from Kolapakkam, 360.84 acres from Kerukampakkam and 81.20 acres from Tharapakkam.

The government would provide suitable compensation to 947 households in these areas and also rehabilitation to them.^{[citation needed]} The rehabilitation of the households would be done in the first phase of the expansion work itself.

The modernisation and restructuring is expected to cost around 2,350 crore, of which the cost of construction of the runway, taxiway and apron would be around 1,100 crore, while the cost of construction of the terminal building, cargo building, car park and face uplift would be 1,250 crore.^{[citation needed]}

As part of the plan to expand the current airport, 126.59 acres of land for second runway was formally handed over to Airports Authority of India (AAI) to start with. As per the modernisation plan, the secondary runway will be built over the Adyar river by means of a bridge. The second runway will be extended by 1,400 meters length to 3445 meters and will extend across Adyar river. A bridge will be built over the river to accommodate the runway and a taxiway. This makes Chennai Airport, the only international airport in India to have a runway across the river^{[citation needed]}. In Mumbai, only an end of the runway is over Mithi river. The secondary runway extension will cost around 430 crore and will be completed in 2010^{[citation needed]}.^[7]

The proposed Chennai Metro Rail Project will connect the Chennai International Airport to various parts of the City. Tentatively, the project is programmed for completion in the financial year 2013-2014.^[8]

Proposed new passenger terminals

Baggage pickup area at the airport

The current development projects include construction of a new domestic terminal and expansion of the current International terminal. The design is a collaborative effort of four firms. While George Hargreaves Associates has done the landscape design Gensler and Frederic Schwartz Architects are responsible for the design of the passengers terminal buildings, parking garage structures and access roadway access system. The Creative Group would be the local architects for the project. The proposed design will be connected with the existing terminal design elements. It was earlier reported that the new terminal buildings will have a handling capacity of 10 million passengers and when integrated with existing terminals will provide for a handling capacity of 23 million passengers a year. The new terminal buildings are expected to have an area of about 1,40,000 m². with 104 check-in counters, 16 aerobridge and 60 immigration counters and the two runways would be interconnected by a network of taxiways. The Terminal complex will have a Flyover Travelator connecting the Domestic Terminal and International Terminal for a distance of about 1 km. It will have an elevated road on the top and a tube below which will have two Walkalators^[9]

The design details of the runways are handled by the Airports Authority of India, while architecture firms are limited to designing buildings on the land side of the runway. The present proposal is parallel to the existing runway. The entire design as being organised around “two lush sustainable gardens” and the wing-like roofs helps collect rainwater and become part of the garden.^[10]

Proposed new integrated cargo complex

An integrated cargo complex will be built in the cargo complex of the Chennai International Airport. The complex would be constructed, at a cost of 145 crore, in 15 months. While the ground floor would measure 21,000 square metres, the first floor would be built on 12,100 square metres. The new building would be used exclusively for import activities. Once the civil works were completed, the Automatic Storage and Retrieval System would be installed. It would cost 75 crore.^[11]

New Greenfield Airport

Further information: New Chennai International Airport

There is a current plan of setting up of a new greenfield airport at Sriperumbudur and Tiruvallur taluks, apart from the expansion of the existing airport at Tirusulam. The greenfield airport would come up on 4,200 acres (17 km²) of land. As of now, only soil testing at the proposed location for the project has been carried out.^[12]

The existing airport is being expanded at a cost of 3,000 crore and if the proposed new airport becomes a reality, the existing airport has to be shut down. Since the Airports Authority of India has already invested this huge amount in the expansion of the existing airport, the Central and the state governments are preparing to shelve this project. There is no confirmed news on the expansion or the Greenfield Airport.

The feasibility report of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which has suggested that a second airport for the city could come up on 5,000 acres at Sriperumbudur, was submitted to the State government. “The State government has to decide whether to have a second airport or to create a parallel runway at the existing airport,” he said.^[13]

Terminals, airlines and destinations

An Air Mauritius Boeing 767-300ER seen from the viewing gallery

Ramp view

Jade Cargo 747-400F takes off from Chennai Airport

Three 747s at Chennai Cargo Terminal. Also the New domestic terminal under construction is visible.

Two MD-11Fs of World Airways Cargo and Lufthansa Cargo at Chennai Airport.

Scheduled airlines

Domestic flights operate from the Kamaraj Terminal, while the Anna Terminal is for international flights. The old terminal at Meenambakkam is used for Cargo Operations.

Airlines	Destinations	Terminal
Air Arabia	Sharjah	Anna
Air Asia	Kuala Lumpur	Anna
Air India	Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Madurai, Mumbai, Port Blair, Thiruvananthapuram, Visakhapatnam	Kamaraj
Air India	Ahmedabad, Colombo, Delhi, Dubai, Goa, Hyderabad, Kuwait, Singapore, Muscat	Anna
Air India Express	Abu Dhabi, Colombo, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Singapore, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruchirapalli	Anna
Air India Regional	Agatti, Bangalore	Kamaraj
Air Mauritius	Mauritius	Anna
British Airways	London-Heathrow	Anna
Cathay Pacific	Hong Kong	Anna
Emirates	Dubai	Anna
Etihad Airways	Abu Dhabi	Anna
Gulf Air	Bahrain	Anna
IndiGo	Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Thiruvananthapuram	Kamaraj
Jet Airways	Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Madurai, Mangalore, Mumbai, Port Blair, Pune, Raipur, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruchirapalli, Visakhapatnam	Kamaraj
Jet Airways	Brussels, Colombo, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, New York-JFK, Singapore	Anna
JetLite	Coimbatore, Kolkata	Kamaraj
Kingfisher Airlines	Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Khajuraho, Kochi, Kozhikode, Madurai, Mangalore, Mumbai, Mysore, Port Blair, Pune, Rajahmundry, Tiruchirapalli, Thiruvananthapuram, Tuticorin, Varanasi, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam	Kamaraj
Kingfisher Airlines	Colombo	Anna
Kuwait Airways	Kuwait	Anna
Lufthansa	Frankfurt	Anna
Malaysia Airlines	Kuala Lumpur	Anna
Oman Air	Muscat	Anna
Qatar Airways	Doha	Anna
Saudi Arabian Airlines	Dammam, Jeddah, Riyadh	Anna
SilkAir	Singapore	Anna
Singapore Airlines	Singapore	Anna
SpiceJet	Ahmedabad, Bagdogra, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Madurai, Mangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruchirapalli, Tuticorin (Begins 1st December), Visakhapatnam	Kamaraj
SpiceJet	Colombo	Anna
Sri Lankan Airlines	Colombo	Anna
Thai Airways International	Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi	Anna
Tiger Airways	Singapore	Anna

Cargo Terminal

Airlines	Destinations
Air India Cargo	Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai
Blue Dart Aviation	Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai
British Airways World Cargo operated by Global Supply Systems	Hong Kong, London-Stansted
Cathay Pacific Cargo	Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Brussels, Dubai-International, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Manchester, Mumbai[14][15][16]
DHL Express	Worldwide
Emirates Sky Cargo	Dubai-International, Hong Kong
Ethiopian Airlines	Addis Ababa[17]
Etihad Crystal Cargo	Abu Dhabi, Colombo, Shanghai-Pudong[18]
Hong Kong Airlines	Hong Kong
Jade Cargo International	Amsterdam, Dubai-International, Seoul-Incheon, Shanghai-Pudong
Kingfisher Xpress	Ahmedabad
Korean Air Cargo	Bangkok, Chengdu, Seoul-Incheon
Lufthansa Cargo	Frankfurt, Sharjah
Martinair Cargo 1	Amsterdam, Bahrain, Dubai -Al Maktoum, Hong Kong, Sharjah
Midex Airlines	Al Ain
Neptune Air	Kuala Lumpur[19]
Qatar Airways Cargo	Doha
Singapore Airlines Cargo	Amsterdam, Anchorage, Atlanta, Brussels, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Sharjah, Singapore[20]
Southern Air	Hong Kong [21]
Thai Airways Cargo	Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi
Uni-Top Airlines	Wuhan[22]

^1 Martinair Cargo in addition to their own fleet also use KLM Cargo aircraft to MAA, which are in full KL Cargo livery, this is not to be mistaken as KL Cargo service.

MRO hangar facility

Airlines that have hangar facilities at Chennai airport:

• Air India
• Jet Airways
• Kingfisher Airlines

Transport links

The airport is situated on the busy Grand Southern Trunk Road (National Highway 45) and is also served by the airport station (Tirusulam) on the Suburban railway network. Airport prepaid taxis are available round the clock, with moderate fares fixed by the government. The proposed Metro Rail System will also connect the airport with other important places in Chennai.

Incidents and accidents

• On 5 March 1999, an ex-UTA Boeing 747-2B3F (SCD) freighter (registration F-GPAN) carrying a revenue load of 66 tons of cargo on flight 6745 from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Madras Meenambakkam, India, via Karachi, Pakistan and Bangalore HAL Airport, India, crash-landed, caught fire and burned out. Meenambakkam ATC had cleared the aircraft for an ILS approach to the airport's runway 07. The crew abandoned the approach due to technical difficulties. The aircraft circled to attempt a second approach. At the end of the second approach, the aircraft's nose struck the runway while touching down because its nose gear was either not down or not locked. The plane skidded and came to rest 7,000 feet (2,100 m) down the 13,050 ft (3,980 m). runway. After it had come to a standstill, the crew noticed smoke on the flight deck and began to extinguish the flames. Soon after, flames erupted in the aircraft's front section. One crew member managed to escape from the flight deck via a rope ladder. The remaining four crew members were rescued by the airport fire service from the rear, before the flames engulfed the entire aircraft. The fire service was unable to extinguish the fire and the aircraft burned out.^[23]

• In August 1984, a bomb blast 1,200 meters from the airport killed 33 persons and injured 27 others.^[24]

See also

	Chennai portal
	Aviation portal

• Chennai

References

1. ^ Airport information for VOMM at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.Source: DAFIF.
2. ^ Airport information for MAA at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective Oct. 2006).
3. ^ AAI traffic figures 2009-2011
4. ^ New-look Chennai airport may be ready by March
5. ^ Part of second runway to open soon
6. ^ Aedes aegypti survey of Chennai Port/Airport, India
7. ^ Chennai Airport to have runway across Adyar river
8. ^ Chennai Metro Rail System to connect International Airport
9. ^ Chennai airport to get a ‘Flyover Travelator’
10. ^ Proposed New Chennai Airport - Plan
11. ^ Proposed New Chennai Airport Cargo Complex - Plan
12. ^ "Soil testing carried out for proposed new airport". The Hindu. 2010-08-19. http://www.hindu.com/2010/08/19/stories/2010081963090400.htm. Retrieved 2010-12-20. 
13. ^ The Hindu : States / Tamil Nadu : State government has to decide on second airport for Chennai: AAI
14. ^ Cathay Pacific destinations
15. ^ Cathay Pacific launches freighter services
16. ^ afaqs! > News > Company Briefs > Cathay Pacific launches freighter services from Chennai to Frankfurt
17. ^ "Ethiopian Cargo Schedules (Effective 1 May 2011 – 29 October 2011)". Ethiopian Airlines. http://www.flyethiopian.com/en/cargo/schedule.aspx. Retrieved 1 May 2011. 
18. ^ Etihad Airways destinations
19. ^ Photos: Boeing 737-3S3F Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net
20. ^ Welcome to SIA Cargo - eTimeTable
21. ^ Global Reach– Southern Air
22. ^ Uni-Top freighter schedules
23. ^ ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 747-2B3F (SCD) F-GPAN Chennai Airport (MAA)
24. ^ Eelam Army chief held for Chennai blast, The Indian Express News Service, 8 February 1998

External links

• Chennai Airport Guide
• Chennai International Airport
• MAP for proposed Greenfield Airport & Consolidated Update About Chennai Airport
• New Chennai Airport Design-Schwartzarch
• Accident history for MAA at Aviation Safety Network