Coimbatore airport on major expansion drive

A master plan for the expansion of the Coimbatore Airport at a cost of Rs 57 crore in 18 months is under implementation, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) Chairman, K. Ramalingam, said.Dr. Ramalingam said a global technical advisor and an Indian financial consultant had been appointed for finalising the expansion project. An integrated cargo complex, a parallel taxi way for ensuring faster handling of aircraft movements, increasing the runway length from 8,500 ft to 9,700 ft and an additional terminal building with aero bridges for handling international aircraft were also on the cards, he said. The runway length was recently increased from 7,500 ft to 8,500 ft. With the process for acquisition of land underway, the AAI was getting ready to increase the length to 9,700 ft for handling wide-bodied international aircraft. Ultimately the plan was to increase the runway length to 12,500 ft in future with even a parallel runway for handling more aircraft at peak hours.

The AAI sources said the process was underway to remit Rs 12 crore for the 16 acres of land identified for acquisition to meet the immediate expansion requirements. The present cargo complex has a capacity to handle 40 tonnes. Given the cargo potential to and from Coimbatore, the cargo complex capacity would be enhanced by 100 per cent under the integrated cargo complex project. The Coimbatore airport at present has three parking bays besides one bay for handling aircraft with technical snag and security perceptions. In addition three more parking bays have been readied and would be thrown open shortly for the peak aircraft movements. The AAI authorities at Coimbatore have forwarded a fresh and detailed letter to the district administration indicating the total requirement of 350 acres for the future expansion activities. The sources also said the AAI was working on a time frame of 18 months for completing the expansion activities since the IT firms and more MNCs are likely to open shop in Coimbatore within the next two years.

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