Taking a step closer to the inauguration, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has begun testing important equipment at the new integrated terminal of the Chennai airport.
A part of the terminal is expected to be inaugurated in December. As the international operations will shift to this building, it is imperative that meticulous testing and trials are done, said the officials of the AAI.
The officials said that by October, construction work in one part of the building will be completed but the passengers will be able to use it only by December since the migration process will take close to two months.
“The testing of some of the essential equipment inside the building like conveyor belts, IT system, X-Ray machines, Flight Information Display System (FIDS), Automatic Tray Retrieval System (ATRS) and many others has been taken up. We are opening a new building and we don’t want to hear any complaints from passengers. So, we are carrying out rigorous checks on all the equipment. Representatives of various airlines have been informed of their allotted spaces for backup offices. Some interior work of the retail outlets and food and beverages stalls is pending which should be complete soon,” an official said.
In 2018, AAI began work on this project at an estimated cost of ₹2,500 crore with an aim to enhance the airport’s passenger handling capacity to 35 million a year. The project took off with the year 2022 as the deadline but one section of the building (to handle international operations) alone will be opened this year. The completion of the building has been delayed for various reasons.
