Parandur – Location For The Second Chennai Airport – New Greenfield Airport

Central and TN State Govts have finally selected Parandur as the location for the proposed new greenfield airport for Chennai. It is 60 km from the existing Chennai Airport and is in the Kanchipuram district.

The new location is also close to the upcoming Chennai-Bengaluru Expressway. The TN Govt might also consider extending the existing plans for Chennai Metro Phase 4. From Poonamallee to Thirumazhisai, Sriperumbudur and even to the new airport site itself.

The Need For A New Airport

The existing international airport inside Chennai city at Meenambakkam can handle up to 1.5 crores of passengers per year. But even as early as 2019, the actual number was close to 2.2 crores. That is around 400 flights and 40,000 passengers per day. As a result, it has put an enormous burden on the airport infrastructure.

AAI has planned to double this capacity to 3 crore passengers per year by constructing a new terminal. Eventually, even after such an expansion, the capacity would not be sufficient for the future. Because there is no more land to expand the runway or other infrastructure needs of the airport. So the current airport cannot meet the future needs of the fast-growing city. Undeniably, this made it very important that the TN Govt complete the selection of the second airport location for Chennai at the earliest.

Many experts also favour the privatisation of the existing airport to utilise its full potential. Such a move may put Chennai Airport on par with other privately managed airports like in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru or Hyderabad. Privatisation may not happen soon, but there is a possibility of it happening a few years down the line.

The search for a new airport location started as early as 1999. With the AAI and TN state government together working towards developing a second airport for Chennai. After 23 years, it has come to a final location only now.

Chennai airport was one of the top three busiest airports in the country till a few years ago. The proposed new airport in Parandur will be close to FOUR times the size of the existing airport. Along with lots of facilities, we expect it to restore that top position.

Four Shortlisted Locations

Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Tamilnadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) experts team inspected the four recently shortlisted sites – Padalam, Pannur, Thiruporur, and Parandur. Subsequently, the team submitted a feasibility report and recommendations.

From these four sites, Pannur and Parandur were further shortlisted after many rounds of technical and feasibility studies like the Obstacle Limitation Surface (OLS) survey and Techno-Economic Feasibility (TEFR) study. Various news reports also said that Pannur had advantages over Parandur as it is slightly closer to the existing airport (45km) than Parandur (60km).

The factors that could have been a disadvantage for Pannur are first, the many industries in the area, second, being closer to the Naval base at Arakkonam and third, lesser existing land ownership by the state government. Meanwhile, we could only know other factors from the actual reports by the AAI, which are not fully available to the public.

In the year 2020 itself, the TN Govt viewed Parandur as the most preferred site for the new airport according to a news report from TOI. It was also the preferred site by the previous state government administration headed by ex-CM Thiru. Edappadi K. Palanisamy.

Parandur Airport Facts

• Location:
  • 75 km southwest of Chennai Central railway station.
  • 60 km southwest of Chennai Airport.
• Area: 4,791 acres
  • Wetlands: 2,605 acres.
  • Dryland: 827 acres.
• Two parallel runways as per plan.
  • Additional 200 acres are required on the southeast side for providing parallel runways and some navigational aids.
• Airspace is available for operations.
• No significant industries and high-rises are present in the vicinity.
• Capacity: 10 crore passengers per year.
• Close to the upcoming Chennai-Bengaluru Expressway.
• Close to the proposed Chennai-Mysore HSR (High-Speed Rail).
• Close to the proposed PRR (Peripheral Ring Road) for Chennai.
• Close to Sriperumbudur SEZ (Special Economic Zone) and home to many multinational manufacturing companies.
• Close to the ancient Kanchipuram city – the temple town.
• The average distance a passenger will travel from the city centre to reach the airport is ~ 73 km
• Time Taken is ~ 2 hours

Decision Made in a Ministerial Meeting

A meeting between the Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia and TN State Industries Minister Thangam Thennarasu led delegation happened in New Delhi on July 26th. They finally decided on the location for the second airport for Chennai in this meeting and announced it later. After that meeting, the TN minister said the Civil Aviation Ministry will accept the final recommendation of the state government.

The first announcement from the central government came as the answer to a question in the parliament. When a TN Rajya Sabha MP Dr Kanimozhi NVN Somu asked the question, Central Minister of State for Civil Aviation Gen. Dr V.K. Singh (Retd.) said the central government has accepted the location finally recommended by the state government, which was Parandur. RS unstarred question no.1607 (1st August 2022) – Construction of a greenfield airport around Chennai, Tamilnadu.

Earlier, Dinamalar Tamil news magazine reported on 26th June 2022 about the national level meeting of all the state Chief Secretaries with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Then the magazine speculated that in the meeting, PM Thiru Narendra Modi and TN CS Thiru V Irai Anbu IAS discussed the new greenfield airport for Chennai.

Announcement By Chief Minister of Tamilnadu

Later, on 2nd August 2022, CM of TN Thiru M K Stalin announced the news of the new Chennai airport location. TN Govt announcement. As per the press release, the TN Govt will arrive at the final cost after preparing a DPR (Detailed Project Report).

“The new airport at Parandur will have terminals that can handle 10 crore passengers a year, two runways, taxiways, apron, cargo and various other facilities,” CM Thiru M K Stalin.

The CM further said the new airport is important to attain Tamilnadu’s goal of a $1 Trillion economy and make Chennai city the best destination for investments in Asia. He also said the current airport and the new airport will function simultaneously. The other cities in India that also have two airports are Delhi, Mumbai and Goa.

In another news report, TN Industries Minister Mr Thangam Thennarasu said that the new airport at Parandur will create a new industrial revolution in Sriperumbudur and nearby regions. He also added that 4000 acres of land are ready and around 1000 acres need to be acquired for the airport project.

The scale of Investment and Jobs Creation

To point out, the mega infrastructure push by the central government for greenfield airports in India is to boost air connectivity and access to air travel in the country. They launched the RCS (Regional Connectivity Scheme) – UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) in 2016 for this purpose.

With this in mind, the second airport for Chennai will be set up at the cost of ₹40,000 crores with 51% funding and ownership by the central government and the rest by the state government. As a result, it can create around 1.5 lakh jobs over 8 years.

How Long Will It Take To Complete The New Airport

As per the centre’s guidelines for greenfield airports, now, the proposal for ‘grant of site clearance’ for the Parandur site has to be submitted to the central government by the state government. Afterwards, the land acquisition and other next steps will start. Then, after the clearance, the state government will approach the central government for ‘in-principle’ approval of the project.

In June 2022 itself, Central Minister For Civil Aviation expressed confidence that the work for the second Chennai airport will start as early as September 2022 itself. Also, the experts estimated that this project will take around 8 years to be completed and fully functional.

“By 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants a second airport in Chennai. This is the dream of Modi. Let me fulfil it.” Scindia has said. The Federal

If the project encounters no delays, the acquisition of approvals from multiple authorities, selection of a firm for construction and other subsequent steps will sail smoothly. The cooperation between both the central government, state government, and other agencies is crucial for the success of this project.