The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : 3 aircraft parking bays for Chennai airport

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Tuesday, Jan 01, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

3 aircraft parking bays for Chennai airport

P. Oppili

10 more bays planned during the next fiscal year

CHENNAI: The Chennai airport will have three new remote aircraft parking bays from the New Year day.

Dinesh Kumar, Airport Director, told The Hindu that with the commissioning of the new parking bays, the airport would have a total of 60. Airports Authority of India officials were planning to add 10 more bays during the next fiscal. Four stands would be allotted for Boeing 747-type aircraft. “Creating more parking bays and improving infrastructure would address the future requirements,” he said.

As A-380 aircraft were likely to land at Indian airports in 2008, the Chennai airport had been upgraded to Fire Category-10 from Category-9. The AAI was also planning to acquire three more sophisticated fire tenders for the airport. The AAI had created a parking bay exclusively for the A-380 aircraft, Mr. Dinesh Kumar said. A domestic terminal was planned for which pre-qualification documents were being processed. The work would begin in February-March, he said.

The demolition of the old arrival hall at the Anna international terminal had begun. The refurbished international arrival hall would be ready in two years.

Both the aircraft as well as passenger movement had recorded a steep growth last year. The aircraft movement on the international sector grew by 18 per cent, and the passenger movement also grew at the same rate. On the domestic sector, the aircraft movement grew by 23 per cent and the passenger movement by 27 per cent. During the same period, the international cargo had registered an 18 per cent growth, Mr. Dinesh Kumar said.

As part of efforts to decongest the domestic terminal, the AAI introduced security checking on the first floor of the domestic departure. This provided the much-needed relief during the peak hours in mornings and evenings.

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