With the swanky new domestic and international terminals at Chennai airport seeing the light of day last week, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is now planning to revamp the old ones.
While the old international terminal is to be renovated and then integrated with the new one, the existing domestic terminal may be remodelled to serve a different purpose. As yet though, there is no word on when the renovation is likely to begin.
“After the new domestic and international terminals become operational, commercial establishments put up there may need a suitable space for warehousing. So, we plan to convert the present domestic terminal for use as a warehouse and remodel it accordingly,” said airport director H.S. Suresh.
Existing domestic operations will shift entirely to the new domestic terminal once it is thrown open for public use, which, Mr. Suresh said, may take about a month’s time. But as far as international operations are concerned, AAI may operate both the old and the new terminals simultaneously for a couple of months, to deal with logistics issues.
“A few airlines need to replace some of their ground-handling equipment. At a meeting, some of them said they needed more time to upgrade their equipment. Once that is done, the new international terminal may function independently,” he added.
When asked about the need to modernise the old terminals, Mr. Suresh said that passenger traffic may increase in the years to come and that the airport would require more space to handle it.
