Chennai Airport Modernisation Nears Completion, Set for Year-End Finish

The Union government has set December 2026 as the revised deadline for completing the ongoing modernisation of Chennai International Airport, citing delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, cyclones and unusually heavy rainfall.

Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is executing the airport expansion and modernisation project in two phases at a total cost of ₹2,467 crore.

Under Phase I, AAI developed a new integrated terminal building, increasing Chennai airport’s passenger-handling capacity from 23 million passengers per annum (MPPA) to 30 MPPA. The terminal became operational in 2023.

Phase II involves the development of Terminal 3, which will further raise the airport’s overall capacity to 35 MPPA. Mohol said an expenditure of ₹1,762.08 crore had been incurred on the project up to June 2026.

The minister was responding to a query from DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran, who sought details on delays in completing the integrated terminal and parallel taxiway projects. AAI has also invested ₹236.75 crore over the past five years in airside infrastructure, including rapid-exit taxiways, taxi tracks and link taxiways.

Rejecting claims that Chennai airport had witnessed a decline in passenger traffic and its national ranking, Mohol said the airport has remained India’s fifth-busiest airport by passenger traffic since 2022-23. The government also said there were no constraints in slot availability at Chennai airport and that no airline requests for slot allocation were pending with AAI.

Meanwhile, responding to a question from DMK MP P Wilson, the minister said the ₹80-crore new air traffic control (ATC) tower-cum-technical block project at Tiruchirappalli airport has achieved 76% physical progress and 49% financial progress.

At Coimbatore airport, work has begun on the construction of a boundary wall around newly acquired land, estimated to cost ₹51 crore, along with alterations to the existing terminal building at an estimated cost of ₹14 crore.