TN govt, Centre should join hands to develop Chennai airport: Ashok Gajapathi Raju

Union Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju today said the Chennai airport needs a modern parallel runway to cater to the growing passenger traffic and, the Centre and state government would have to partner for this cause. 

The civil aviation minister said there was a plan to connect the domestic and international terminals at the airport here to meet the rising passenger demand. 

"This is essentially, an old cross runway (airport)... So, it has a limited capacity... It is not like a modern parallel runway airport, something like Mumbai," Raju told reporters at the airport here. 

"Ultimately, if Chennai has to see a growth in aviation sector, it would require a new modern parallel runway airport," he said. 

Noting that the aviation as a sector was a Government of India subject and land is a state government subject, Raju said, "The Government of India and State government has to partner (for expansion of the city airport)." 

In a lighter vein, he said, "So, without land, an aircraft cannot land... You cannot take off (also)." 

Last month, minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha said the annual passenger traffic at the Chennai airport was set to increase from current 20 million to 35 million in the coming years. 

The Centre was working on a plan for greenfield airport in Chennai for which around 2,000 acres of land has to be provided by the Tamil Nadu government, he had said here.

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