New terminal building to be ready by June next year

Tiruchirapalli, May 21 (UNI) A new terminal building for Tiruchirapalli international airport, one of the oldest in the South, would be ready by June next year.

As part of the modernization programme, the new terminal building would be a steel and glass structure, the first such in the southern region, airport Director S Sreekumar told UNI.

Presently, only the airport in Srinagar is of this nature while it is being introduced in Mumbai international airport.

He said the new terminal building at an outlay of Rs 75 crore would have an integrated air-conditioning system, with a total carpet area of 11,800 sq.ft in three floors, two aero-bridges for passengers, fully computerized baggage conveyor belt system for cargo handling, three escalators, a retiring room and facility to handle 500 passengers in one hour.

Mr Sreekumar said along with the terminal building, an apron expansion project would also be executed at a cost of Rs 16.63 crore. Once the expansion work is completed, seven big aircrafts like Airbus 321 and Boeing 737 can be parked at the new terminal vis-a- vis three aircraft.

He said a fresh proposal for extending the length of the runway by 4,500 feet has been forwarded to the Airports Authority of India (AAI). The AAI had, accorded its consent in principle. The runway was recently extended from 6,100 feet to 8,000 feet at an outlay of Rs 26 crore, he said.

Meanwhile, the AAI has requested the Tamil Nadu government to allot about 1,000 acres of land for the next phase of airport expansion.

Reliable sources said the AAI has also plans to construct a cargo complex and hangars in the airport.

With major international airline operators like Oman Airways, Air Arabia and Malaysian Airlines evincing keen interest to launch services from Tiruchirapalli to various destinations and additional flight service between Tiruchirapalli and Chennai to be launched by Indian on May 25, and similar schemes by other existing airline operators, the airport is expected to emerge as the second major international airport in the state, next to Chennai.

UNI