Come 2011, The Wait At Chennai’s Terminals Could Be More Enjoyable Than The Flight, Thanks To The Proposed Facelift
V Ayyappan | TNN
Oct 8, 2008
Chennai: A snazzy steel-andglass structure, world-class interior design that will allow natural lighting, spacious terminal area, an in-campus flyover that will take passengers all the way to the first-floor departure area, a multi-level car parking — things that you associate only with the best international airports could be the salient features of Chennai airport in less than three years.
Designed by Frede
ric Schwartz Architects, the new terminal buildings will be a milestone in the development
of the airport — which has grown from a small unit handling just 10 flights a day in the 70s to a busy facility handling close to 700 flights a day. And in 2011, you might just not have the heart to fly out.
The modernisation work will include development of the domestic terminal phase II apart from the renovation of existing domestic and international terminals to bring about uniformity in design. The passenger-handling capacity of the airport will also go up from the existing four million to 16 million a year.
The proposed state-of-theart airport will have amenities for passengers that will include restaurants and a recreational area. The international and domestic departure terminals will have natural lighting
and minimal use of electrical lights to ensure that the airport becomes a green facility.
“We are finally going to have a world-class airport. We will follow the design handed over to us by the AAI, which is expected to arrive along with the detailed letter of award,” said K Manivannan, head of the construction wing of Consolidated Construction Consortium, which bagged the Rs 1,212-crore contract for the expansion of the airport.
The expansion will be carried out using the technical expertise of Herve Pomerleau International, who have the experience of doing up the Montreal airport. “They will know the challenges that are thrown up when you are working on a functional airport,” Manivannan added.
The Airports Authority of India, which aims to make the new terminals completely green, has already installed separate bins for bio-degradable and non-bio-degradable waste at the existing international departure terminal.
As it is, Chennai airport has come a long way, developing into a facility
where passengers can relax and keep themselves
occupied while waiting for
the boarding call. Even AAI officials who have worked at Chennai in the last three decades never expected this kind of growth.
“There is a sea change. The airport used to be merely a passenger arrival and departure facility when it was functioning out of the old building in Meenambakkam in the 70s. Now, it is much more than that,” said airport director K Natarajan, who joined service in Chennai in the 70s.
The airport was shifted to the existing building at Tirusulam in the 80s. Majority of the development happened in the last two years after a boost in passenger and aircraft traffic.
B I R D ’S - EY E V I E W O F C H E N N A I A I R P O RT I N 20 1 1
INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL
The state-of-the-art terminal will cover an area of 65,000 sq m on two floors and will have departure lounge on the first floor and arrival on the ground floor
A road will be built parallel to the terminal, so that cars can drop the departing passengers right near the door of the terminal and either drive out of the airport or to the multi-level car park
The renovation will also upgrade the power supply system, diesel gen sets, fire alarms, fire fighting system and closed circuit televisions
ENTRANCE TO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
This will be the entrance to the international terminal at the airport from GST Road
The path from the entrance will lead to a roundabout from where it will connect to one of the approaches to the elevated road in front of the terminals
Incoming vehicles can be directed towards one of the small bridges that will connect to the elevated road in front of the terminals
The flight announcements and displays will be automated and the passengers will be free to do other things while waiting for boarding call at the security hold area
The terminal buildings will use glass and steel to ensure natural lighting to minimise power consumption
ENTRANCE TO DOMESTIC AIRPORT
This will be the entrance to the domestic airport. The gate can be accessed from underneath the flyover on GST Road
The road will be connected to a roundabout which will lead to the elevated bridge in front of the domestic terminal
The two terminals together will have 28 elevators (each with a capacity of 21 passengers), three freight elevators, 12 escalators and 17 aerobridges
The terminal buildings will use glass and steel to ensure natural lighting to minimise power consumption
ELECTRICAL SUB-STATION
The 10,449 square metre sub station for power backup
The existing domestic and international terminals can handle 4 million passengers per year. The figure is expected to go up to 16 million a year after the expansion of the terminal buildings
The terminals will have an incampus flyover that will take passengers all the way to the first-floor departure areas
DOMESTIC TERMINAL
The new domestic terminal will be 74,500 sq m
It will have two floors; first floor for departure and ground floor for arrivals.
Passengers taking a flight can access the terminal through the elevated road
MULTI-LEVEL CAR PARKING
This is the 47,000 square metre multi-level car park It will have parking on three levels in the basement and one parking area on the ground floor The parking lot can accommodate 2,600 cars. This will be in addition to the surface car parking lot that will be built in front of the passenger terminals Two surface car parking lots are being planned in front of the existing parking space
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