Chennai International Airport

Chennai International Airport, also known as Anna International Airport (IATA: MAA, ICAO: VOMM) (Tamil: சென்னை பன்னாட்டு வானூர்தி நிலையம் ), is located at Tirusulam, 7 km (4.3 mi) south of Chennai, India. For the financial year 2010-11, it was the third busiest airport in India in terms of both international and overall passenger traffic,^[4] which is expected to double after March 2012 when its ongoing expansion will be completed^[5] and aircraft movements increase from 27 to 50 flights per hour.^[6]

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, C.N. Annadurai. It was built on land donated by former governor of the Madras Presidency, L. Sriramulu Naidu.

History

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^[4]. 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.

In 2001, Chennai Airport became the first international airport in the country to receive ISO 9001-2000 certification.

Structure

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.^[7]

The domestic terminal building currently measures 139,931 sq ft and handles 4.74 million passengers a year.^[8]

The total area of retail space at the existing domestic and international terminals is 3,250 sq m, comprising 60 concessions including duty-free, retail shops, restaurants, snack bars and executive lounges.^[9]

Cargo complex

The Air Cargo Complex at the Chennai airport was set up in 1978, when all regulatory and facilitating agencies were brought under one roof for faster processing/clearance of international cargo, to cater for air cargo movement in the southern region. At the cargo terminal, AAI functions as ground handling agency for airlines for handling or processing their cargo on ground and acts as custodian on behalf of customs import/export cargo under the customs act of 1962.

The available capacity and cargo handled at the terminal are listed below:

The existing capacity of the air cargo complex is expected to meet the requirement till 2020. Phase III and IV of the new integrated cargo terminal with latest automated storage and retrieval system is under construction, enhancing the area from 35,920 sq m to 54,620 sq m. Automations planned include handling export cargo by conveyor belts, scissor lift at truck dock area for handling loose cargo and shipper loaded unit load devices (ULDs) for bonded truck operations, and upgradation of old net transaction (NT) hub for web-based electronic data inter-exchange (EDI).

Traffic

As of 2011, the annual capacity of the domestic terminal is 6 million passengers, but more than 7 million use it. The airport saw a 9.4 percent increase in passenger movement—from 6.83 million to 7.48 million—between April and October 2011 over the corresponding period in the past year.^[10] Currently, the airport handles about 325 aircraft movements a day.^[9] During 2010-11, passenger traffic rose 14 percent and the total number of passengers is expected to touch 13.1 million in 2012, up from 12 million in 2011.^[11]

Terminals, airlines and destinations

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.

Cargo terminal

^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:

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.

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 construction of a new domestic terminal, expansion and renovation of the existing international terminal, renovation of the existing domestic terminal, extension of the secondary runway, creation of a parallel runway, taxiways, aprons, parking bays and cargo terminal. The new terminal will be spread across 70,000 sq m and would have 72 passenger check-in counters. However, the plan for the parallel runway has been dropped.^[24]

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. 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.

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 ^[25]. 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.^[26]

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.^[27]

The Chennai airport does not have rapid exit taxiways that help pilots to vacate a runway without slowing down the aircraft soon after landing. Planes such as Airbus 380 and Boeing 747-800 will have to slow down completely to negotiate sharp turns on the taxiway. In 2011, AAI began work on upgrading the existing taxiways and parking bays at the airport to handle these jumbo planes.^[28]

Proposed new passenger terminals

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, namely, Frederic Schwartz Architects, Hargreaves Associates, Gensler, and New Delhi-based Creative Group. 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, based on Gensler's Terminal 2015 concept, 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 and international terminals 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.^[29]

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.^[30]

The design

The domestic terminal building currently measures 139,931 sq ft and handles 4.74 million passengers a year. The revamped design of the domestic terminal building will accommodate twice as many passengers in a three-story structure 984 ft long, encompassing about 781,460 sq ft, with 140 check-in counters, 60 immigration counters, 7 security gates (3 international, 4 domestic), 4 conveyor belts and 7 aerobridges. The new design, based on the organisation of security and passenger circulation, centers around two lush, ecologically sustainable gardens each measuring nearly an acre and includes a parking garage with a green roof over 300 m long and rainwater capture systems collectively known as the "green gate" of the terminal. The folding geometry of the dramatic hovering free-span wing-like green roof captures and directs rain water during the rain season to the elliptical openings in the roof, creating shimmering "rain curtains" as the water falls through the garage to cisterns and runnels below where it is stored for reuse as irrigation for the green roof during the dry season, thus maximising the site's sustainable resources. The terminal's wing-like curved roof is supported on large, full-height columns. The forward slope of these elements will work with the stiffness of the trusses to resist transverse wind and seismic forces. Along the building's 984-ft length, the V-shaped configuration of support columns will work integrally with a compression truss to create a repetitive series of stable triangulated elements to resist longitudinal forces. Large, arching space-frame trusses will allow for column-free public spaces on both the land- and air-side terminal areas. Expansive glass curtain walls will be incorporated to boost the feeling of airiness and spaciousness, as will skylights.^[8] The new terminal will have three levels. The departure area will be featured on the top level with the arrivals section on ground level. The arrivals section will form the base for airlines and other offices with the basement reserved for luggage scanners. The domestic terminal covers 67,700 sq m and will also have a provision of seven gates, two hardstand hold rooms and 52 check-in counters, besides eight counters for e-ticketing. The international terminal covers 59,300 sq m with the provision of two gates with multiple hardstand hold rooms, 52 check-in counters, eight counters for e-ticketing, 18/10 immigration/Custom counters for handling passenger arrival and 18/4 immigration/Custom counters for outgoing passengers. Both the terminals will be equipped with an inline baggage handling system capable of Level 4 security screening system. This system consists of four departure conveyors of a total length of 3500 m and can handle 1,200 baggages per hour.^[31]

The new terminal buildings measure more than 140,000 sq m. The new terminals buildings are expected to cater to 14 million more passengers per annum, including 4 million per annum at the international terminals. With the existing terminals handling 9 million, the airport will be able to handle 23 million passengers per annum after the integration^[32] with 16 million in domestic and 7 million in the international terminal.^[31] After expansion, the aircraft movements in the airport is likely to increase at the rate of 5 to 7 percent. By 2020-21, the airport is expected to handle 500 movements a day.^[9]

The new terminals are expected to clock between 72 and 75 green points of the total 100 for integrated inhabited assessment. The AAI has divided the building for landside and airside operations. The spaces are connected with a central security checkpoint for departure and there is a glass bridge on each side of the building for arriving passengers. On the roadside, the new terminals are connected with an elevated corridor, which will have approach and exit ramps.^[32]

In March 2011, by acquiring 136 acres of land from the state government, AAI completed extension of the 2,035-m secondary runway by 1,400 m,^[33] whose commissioning has been delayed as the approach lighting system has not been installed.^[10]

The retail space earmarked in the new international and domestic terminals is about 9,000 sq m, nearly thrice as much as the existing one.^[9]

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.^[34]

New Greenfield 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.^[35]

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 four-runway second airport is proposed to be built on 4,823 acres at Sunguvarchathiram near Sriperumbudur, northwest of Chennai, at an estimated cost of Rs 3,500 crores. ^[36]

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.^[37]

• In August 1984, a bomb blast 1,200 meters from the airport killed 33 persons and injured 27 others.^[38]. The entire concourse was razed down and had to be rebuilt ^[39].

See also

• Chennai
• Transport in Chennai

References

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