After long wait, Pannur, Parandur short-listed for Chennai’s second airport

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has narrowed down on two sites for the second airport in Chennai, according to media reports. Pannur and Parandur have been shortlisted by the AAI and referred to the Tamil Nadu government, the reports said.

The second Chennai airport has been in the plans for more than 10 years with a view to reduce the load on the current airport at Meenambakkam, which was built in 1932 and modernised a number of times.

Spread over 1,300 acres, the Meenambakkam airport has 4 terminals — two for domestic and two for international flights — and catered to around 20 million passengers a year before the COVID pandemic hit. It is among the few major airports in India that is still under the AAI, and has not been privatised.

The second airport has been on the drawing board for several years now, and the previous Jayalalithaa and Edappadi Palaniswami governments have been criticised for not pushing it.

Places around Sriperumbudur were looked into to ascertain the feasibility. An AAI team inspected four sites — at Pannur, Parandur, Tiruporur and Padalam — and prepared a pre-feasibility report, a Hindu report said. After considering various aspects, the team shortlisted Pannur and Parandur as the other two sites had some constraints and limitations, it added.

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The officials have sent the report to the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO), which will take it up with the state government.

Factors in play

Several factors, including cost, availability of land (greenfield airport needs around 2,000-3,000 acres of land), obstruction study, techno-feasibility study and others, will have to be taken into consideration before arriving at a final decision.

A committee from the Centre will also have to look into it and give the approval before work is taken up. The project is likely to be completed in five years.