TN govt scraps Parandur airport project, eyes new site; Chennai to get 5th terminal

The Tamil Nadu government has abandoned its plan to build a new airport at Parandur and is now seeking an alternative location for the project, Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay declared in the state assembly on Monday. He added that the new site would be finalized shortly, and a technical feasibility study would be undertaken by expert panels.

Vijay criticized the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government for selecting a site where many people would have to be displaced and agriculture would suffer. He firmly stated that the current Vijay Kumar (TVK) government would not permit an airport at Parandur.

In response to the scrapped Parandur project, the government will enhance the existing Chennai airport by constructing a fifth terminal, which is set to accommodate an extra 20 million passengers each year. With the construction of Terminal 3 now underway, the airport's capacity is projected to increase to 34 million passengers annually, Vijay informed the lawmakers. The new fifth terminal will further boost the airport's capacity by an additional 20 million passengers per year, he noted.

Currently, Chennai airport caters to around 30 million passengers per year, and the incorporation of the upcoming Terminal 3 is expected to raise its handling capacity to 34 million passengers annually. Vijay asserted that the proposed fifth terminal would augment this figure by an additional 20 million passengers per year.