There will soon be a new traffic plan for Chennai airport as the ongoing Metro Rail work has created a bottleneck at its entry point.
Metro work, which includes the construction of a station and viaduct, has been in progress on the airport’s premises for over two years now.
Recently, Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) began construction of a support beam for the viaduct near the airport’s entry. This has resulted in congestion during peak hours, according to officials of Airports Authority of India (AAI).
To relieve the bottleneck, AAI plans to chalk out a plan soon. Airport director Deepak Shastri said, “We have already spoken to officials of CMRL. They are taking efforts to sort out the problem. In addition, AAI has sought the help of an expert for a new traffic plan.”
Meanwhile, sources said work on the support beam may be completed in another month-and-a-half, after which, the traffic problem will be resolved.
Transport experts note that such problems will not arise if there is better coordination between CMRL and AAI. An expert said, “Had both agencies, instead of working independently, discussed it beforehand, there would not have been any difficulty now.”
Flights delayedNearly 20 flights were delayed at Chennai airport on Wednesday due to heavy fog. Most flights in the morning, including Jet Airways, Etihad Airways, IndiGo and Air India, flying to Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad and New Delhi, were delayed by 45 minutes to two hours. The departures returned to normalcy post 9 a.m. after visibility improved.
Arrivals from Mumbai and Delhi too were delayed.
An Air India flight from Muscat, scheduled to land at 4 a.m., was diverted to Bengaluru and it reached Chennai, only around 8 a.m.
