Courtesy : The Hindu Date : 02.06.2009
Tiruchi airport’s Rs. 80-crore integrated terminal operational
Staff Reporter
| With 11,800 square metres of floor space, it can handle 400 passengers |
— PHOTO: R. M. RAJARATHINAM 
Majestic: The facade of the new terminal at Tiruchi Airport. —File photo: R. Ashok; (Right) D. Devaraj, Regional Executive Director, (S.R.) Airport Authority of India.
TIRUCHI: The new Integrated Terminal Building at the Tiruchi Airport constructed at a cost of Rs. 80 crore was commissioned on Monday.
A domestic flight was operated on Sunday for trial. Henceforth, all flights will be operated from the new terminal. On an average, six to seven international flights and five domestic flights are operated daily from the airport.
With a total floor space of 11,800 square metres in the two-storey building, the terminal has a capacity to handle 400 passengers at a time. Described by officials of Airports Authority of India as of ‘international standard,’ the terminal features two aerobridges, and a provision has been made for a third aerobridge.
Additional personnel of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) have been requisitioned and necessary equipment installed over the past three months since the terminal was inaugurated to avoid further delay in commissioning it, the Regional Executive Director, Southern Region, Airports Authority of India, D. Devaraj, said, adding that the expansion of the airport was undertaken owing to increasing patronage.
To a query, Mr. Devaraj said that a decision on user charges to be collected from the airlines for Common User Terminal Equipment (CUTE) was yet to be arrived at. The possibility for utilising the existing terminal building for cargo operations would be explored, he said.
The expansion project of the Chennai Airport is expected to be completed by the end of 2010, the Regional Executive Director, Southern Region, Airports Authority of India (AAI), D. Devaraj, said on Monday. The modernisation work includes extension of the secondary runway across the Adyar river.
The outlay for the AAI Southern Region for 2009-10 has been fixed at Rs. 3,000 crore. Over the last five years modernisation works to the tune of Rs. 125 crore each have been undertaken in Tiruchi and Madurai Airports. Works amounting to Rs. 90 crore and Rs. 70 crore were in progress at Mangalore and Coimbatore airports, he said.
Responding to a question, Mr. Devaraj said that as of now, the AAI has received no proposal from any airline for making use of the Salem airport.
The airport has recorded 4.6 lakh passenger arrivals and departures during 2008-09, registering 18 per cent growth. Tiruchi airport stands first in the country in terms of rate of growth over the past five years, Airport Director S. Sreekumar said.
According to Collector T. Soundiah, 430 acres will be acquired and handed over to the AAI within six months for the airport expansion.
The AAI intends to expand the runway to 12,500 feet from the present 8,000 feet.