A Passage to Chennai

A passage to ChennaiPublished Date: 6/9/2007 - (NIE)
V AYYAPPAN
Chennai, June 8: A new arrival terminal with stateof-the-art facilities was put on trial at the Anna International Airport here on Friday.
The terminal, being built at a cost of approximately Rs 30 crore, has been readied to put in place a twin arrival terminal for international passengers. The 14,400 sqft facility has been built by renovating a portion of the arrival building.
More than 400 passengers who arrived by a Bangkok-Chennai Thai Airways flight used the terminal while senior officials of the Airports Authority of India gathered feedback from them.
Sources said the terminal was nearly complete with four modern inclined bay baggage conveyor belt units and 22 customs booths in place.
''Only a couple of minor changes and passenger flow routes toward the exit need to be effected,'' said a senior officer. After that, the terminal would be ready for commissioning within a week or two, he added. Subsequently, the currently used arrival area will be renovated.
Passengers said the facility was certainly an improvement. Mohanty, a frequent traveller, said : ''The terminal is very good though a couple of more features like signages need to be put up.'' Dinesh Kumar, airport director, told Express : ''The date of commissioning will be decided after making a few more changes."
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