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CHENNAI: The airport in Chennai may not get many long-haul widebody international flights as it is no longer a preferred point of call for foreign carriers for lack of aerobridges and other operational limitations.
In the Rajya Sabha, DMK’s P Wilson said the the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has replaced Chennai airport with Hyderabad and Bengaluru airports as points of call (POC) for several countries. Currently, airports in six metros have the tag under a bilateral air services agreement.
In Chennai, existing foreign airlines are struggling to operate because there are only four aerobridges in the international terminal, making them use remote bays to park planes and bring passengers by bus to the terminal.
In spite of ₹4,000 crore being spent on expansion, Chennai will not be classified a Code F airport to land an A380 aircraft because of inadequate taxiways and aerobridges. Bengaluru and Hyderabad can already handle giant planes. “There are a lot of limitations at Chennai. Most of that is in the operational area. There are only four aerobridges because construction work is on. This has limited the number of widebody aircraft foreign airlines can operate. Bengaluru and Hyderabad are greenfield airports, while Chennai is a brownfield airport where further expansion is not possible,” said an airline official. Passenger traffic and cargo are not improving either, he added.Most foreign carriers keen on starting flights consider Bengaluru. There is a huge demand from Chennai to Australia, but only Bengaluru has a direct flight.
Wilson said Centre should arrange for a feasibility study to add more aerobridges and take steps to ensure Chennai became a POC airport for foreign carriers.
“There has been a drastic increase in withdrawal of operations on international flights due to just four aerobridges for international flights. As a result, many flights are handled in parking bays away from terminals, increasing the time to board and alight passengers, load, and unload baggage,” the official said.
Chennai airport is not equipped to handle large planes with a capacity ofmore than 400 passengers and double-decker planes. Also, there are no aerobridges that can be used to dock large planes.
This has forced international carriers seeking to expand operations in Chennai to opt for alternative airports such as Bengaluru and Hyderabad. As a consequence, flight frequencies to European destinations have decreased, despite the increasing demand from the public, he added.
Chennai handled 5,16,217 international passengers in Dec 2023, a 12.9% increase over the corresponding period of the previous year.
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