Chennai International Airport is an international airport serving the city of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, India. It is located within the city limits in Tirusulam in Chennai district, in the Greater Chennai Metropolitan Area around southwest of the city centre. The first air service was operated in 1915 and the airport was commissioned in 1930. The airport serves as the southern regional headquarters of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for South India comprising the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry.
The airport is the fifth-busiest airport in India by passenger traffic and aircraft movements, and fourth-busiest by cargo handled in India and international traffic. In the financial year 2024–25, the airport handled over 22 million passengers and 0.37 million tonnes of cargo. The airport has two asphalt runways and offers direct flights to three continents. Terminals 1 and 4 handle domestic traffic and Terminal 2, which is being expanded to replace the older Terminal 3, handles international operation. A new satellite terminal is also under construction. A dedicated air cargo complex operates out of the old passenger terminal at Meenambakkam. The airport serves as a hub for Blue Dart Aviation, a focus city for Air India, and an operating base for IndiGo.
The airport is expected to reach saturation by 2035, with a peak capacity of 40 million passengers; a new greenfield airport has been proposed to supplement it. The airport is served by the Chennai International Airport Metro Station of the Chennai Metro and the Tirusulam railway station of the Chennai Suburban Railway.
History Beginning and establishment
The aviation history of the city began in 1910, when a city-based Corsican hotelier Giacomo D'Angelis built a biplane powered by a small engine in association with Simpson's, a leading coach-builder in the city. He tested it at Island Grounds at Madras, making it the first powered flight in Asia. Further flying displays were performed by a set of aviators including Baron de Caters and Jules Tyck in February 1911. J. W. Madley, a water works engineer with the Madras government, flew an aircraft he had assembled over the Red Hills reservoir and shot aerial photographs in 1914.
In 1915, Tata Air Mail started an airmail service between Karachi and Madras, marking the beginning of civil aviation in South India. A discussion initiated by pilot G. Vlasto led to the founding of Madras Flying Club in March 1930. The first instructional flight took off from the airstrip in July 1930.
Commissioned in 1930, Madras aerodrome was one of the first airports of India. On 15 October 1932, J. R. D. Tata flew a Puss Moth aircraft carrying air mail from Karachi to Bombay's Juhu Airstrip. Piloted by aviator Nevill Vintcent, it continued to Madras and became the first scheduled flight to land at the airport. The first mail service to Colombo was operated by Tata in 1936, with regular mail and passenger service commencing later in 1938. Although commercial services came into operation earlier, the airport was confined mostly to military operations during World War II, when it became the base of Royal Indian Air Force.
Expansion
In 1952, the Civil Aviation Department took over the operations of the airport. The first passenger terminal was built in 1954 on the northeastern side of Meenambakkam, and the airport operated as a customs airport with limited international services. In 1972, the airport came under the purview of Airports Authority of India (AAI). An air cargo complex was commissioned on 1 February 1978, which was the second gateway air cargo terminal in the country, after Kolkata airport. In August 1984, a bomb blast near the airport killed 33 people and injured 27 others. The entire concourse was razed down and had to be rebuilt. The passenger operations were shifted to the new domestic terminal built at Tirusulam in 1985. An international terminal was added in 1989 and the old terminal building was used for air cargo.
In November 1988, British Airways commenced services to Europe, flying to London's Heathrow Airport with Boeing 747s from April 1991. On 23 September 1999, a handling centre for flowers, fruits and vegetables was commissioned at the air cargo terminal. In 2001, the international airport became the first in the country to receive the ISO 9001-2000 certification. A new international departure terminal was commissioned in 2003. In May 2005, Delta Air Lines commenced the first direct flights to the Americas, connecting Chennai with New York City via Paris.
In 2008, the AAI started a major modernisation project. Two new terminals (Terminal 1 and 4) were constructed, the existing international terminal (Terminal 3) was renovated, the secondary runway was extended, and new taxiways, parking bays and a fire station were constructed.
2015 floods and later modernisation
In December 2015, unprecedented rainfall associated with India's Northeast monsoon caused extensive flooding of the airport tarmac and runways. As part of the airport is situated on the floodplains of the Adyar river, extensive waterlogging occurred in the airport. The airport was closed for a week to all traffic from 1 to 6 December. About 1,500 passengers and 2,000 airport workers were evacuated as water entered terminal buildings and 30–35 aircraft were stranded on the apron. Military authorities permitted the use of Naval Air Station INS Rajali in Arakkonam, west of central Chennai and Tambaram Air Force Station south as relief airports for a limited service of civilian commercial flights as well as official rescue/assistance flights. The Indian Air Force evacuated passengers from Chennai airport to the two military bases for onward journeys on Air Force transport aircraft to other domestic destinations. On 5 December, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation permitted a partial re-opening of the airport during daylight hours under visual meteorological conditions only, allowing airlines to ferry stranded aircraft without passengers or cargo on board. Operations under instrument meteorological conditions were not permitted and rescue and assistance flights, were permitted to operate in and out of the airport from 6 December.
In 2018, the construction of a new integrated terminal (Terminal 2) to expand the capacity began and the flight operations started from the new terminal on 7 July 2023.
Administration
Chennai Airport is owned and operated by the Airports Authority of India and serves as the regional headquarters of the AAI for the southern region of India comprising the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, and the union territories of Lakshadweep, and Puducherry. It functions from the Air Traffic Control Complex within the airport. The airport is the centre of the southern flight information region (FIR), one of the four FIRs that the Indian air space is divided into. It is alo responsible for the air traffic services over the Chennai FIR, which consist of five southern states, two southern union territories, and oceanic air space over parts of the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.
The immigration services at the airport are handled by the Bureau of Immigration of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The airport is the home to the southern regional office of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), which is responsible for the security of flights. The Airport Sector (CISF) provides security, including a dog squad for identification of narcotics and bomb disposal.
In 2013, the Government of India proposed to offer a contract to a private operator to operate the airport, which the AAI invited bids for. The plan did not materialise because airport employees, fearing job losses, protested against the move.
Facilities Runways
The airport has two runways – the long primary runway 07/25 (Northeast – Southwest orientation) and the long secondary runway 12/30 (Northwest – Southeast orientation). The runways are equipped with CAT-I Instrument Landing System (ILS) for IFR approach with Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI) landing aids. An upgraded ILS was installed on runway 07/25 in 2017. As the airport is not equipped with a CAT-III landing system, which will enable operations in poor visibility conditions, disruptions in flight operations happen in poor weather conditions. In 2012, the AAI acquired additional land to install new landing lights and upgrade the ILS.
The secondary runway (12/30) was closed in 2009 to extend it over the Adyar River by means of a bridge over the watercourse at a cost of . The runway which was initially long was planned to be extended to . The expansion was completed in March 2011.
The bridge over the Adyar river accommodated the runway and a taxiway, making Chennai airport the first international airport in India to have a runway across a river. The commissioning was delayed due to work on landing lights and VOR antenna. In February 2012, airport authorities announced that only about of the secondary runway would be operational due to displacements at both ends and the runway which was earlier used by only smaller aircraft, would be able to accommodate narrow body aircraft.
The layout consists of a long taxiway (B) and a shorter taxiway (R) parallel to primary runway 07/25 and parallel taxiway (N) oriented along the secondary runway 12/30. Two taxiways (P and Q) linked the two runways. Apart from the primary taxiways, other secondary taxiways interconnect the runways, main taxiways and parking aprons. In January 2018, the airport began cross-runway operations to reduce flight delays. In May 2023, a rapid exit taxi way was added from the threshold on the primary runway 07 and another taxi way linking the main apron. This reduced the runway occupancy time and helped with the plan to increase in flight handling capacity from 36 to 45 flights per hour. In January 2024, AAI announced plans to construct 11 new rapid taxi-ways to improve aircraft handling.
Passenger terminals The airport occupies an area of with the passenger terminals located in Tirusulam in Chengalpattu district. , the airport consists of three operational passenger terminals with Terminals 1 and 4 catering to domestic traffic and Terminal 2 handling international traffic. The power supply to the airport is provided by Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited through a 11,000 kV sub-station.
Terminals 1 and 4 have three levels with the departure area on the top level with an elevated corridor, which has approach and exit ramps. The arrivals section is on the ground level, which also serves as the base for airlines and other offices. The basement is used for luggage handling. Terminal 1, which can handle 16 million passengers per year, covers , has seven gates, 52 check-in counters, and eight counters for e-ticketing. Terminal 4 which was originally built to handle international operations, covers an area of and is capable of handling 7 million passengers per year. Both the terminals are equipped with an in-line baggage handling system and security screening system with four departure conveyors of a length of and can handle 1,200 baggage pieces per hour. The terminals are designed with two sustainable gardens with wing-like roofs and glass facades. Rainwater is harvested and used to sustain the gardens. There is of space at the terminals, consisting of duty-free retail shops, restaurants, snack bars, and executive lounges. There have been more than 65 incidents of false ceiling collapses and breakage of glass windows reported from the terminals over the years.