Chennai International Airport is the primary airport serving the South Indian metropolis of Chennai. The airport is spread across the suburban areas of Meenambakkam, Pallavaram and Tirusulam. For the Fiscal year 2014-15, it is the fourth busiest airport in India in terms of passenger traffic after Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru and the third busiest after Delhi, Mumbai in terms of international passengers and cargo handled. In 2015, the airport handled 14.78 million passengers and about 330 aircraft movements per day. The yearly growth in passenger numbers as well as aircraft movements was greatly affected by the 2015 Chennai Floods that paralysed the airport for nearly a week, also resulting in cancellations in tourist plans, which further brought down the numbers. The airport is expected to reach saturation by 2018–19, necessitating the construction of a second airport.[4] The domestic and the international terminals are named after former chief ministers of Tamil Nadu K Kamaraj and C N Annadurai respectively. It is the first airport in India to have international and domestic terminals located adjacent to each other.[5] The airport serves as the regional headquarters of the Airports Authority of India for the southern region of India comprising the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and Kerala and the union territories of Puducherry and Lakshadweep.[6] The airport serves as the main hub for SpiceJet, Jet Airways, Air Costa, Blue Dart Aviation and as a secondary hub for Air India. It also serves as focus city for GoAir and IndiGo. The history of civil aviation in India began in December 1912, with the opening of the first domestic air route between Karachi and Delhi by the Indian state Air services in collaboration with the Imperial Airways, United Kingdom. However, it was just an extension of London–Karachi flight of the Imperial Airways. In 1915, the first Indian airline, Tata Sons Ltd, started a regular airmail service between Karachi and Madras without any patronage from the government, marking the beginning of air transportation in the southern part of India.[12] On 15 October 1932, when J R D Tata, founder of Tata Sons Ltd, flew a single-engined De Havilland Puss Moth carrying air mail (postal mail of Imperial Airways) from Karachi's Drigh Road Aerodrome to Bombay's Juhu Airstrip via Ahmedabad, the flight was continued to Madras via Bellary piloted by aviator Nevill Vintcent. Airport Madras (Chennai) had one of the first airports in India and was the final destination of Air India's first flight from Bombay (Mumbai) via Belgaum (Belagavi) in 1954. The airport was built on land donated by the former governor of Madras Presidency, L Sriramulu Naidu.[14] Although the first aircraft "Puss Moth" landed in Chennai Airport in 1932, the usage was confined only to military operations during World War II.[15] In 1952, the Civil Aviation Department took over its operations followed by the IAAI in 1972. Chennai airport is the regional headquarters of the Airports Authority of India for the southern region of India comprising the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and Kerala and the union territories of Puducherry and Lakshadweep. It functions from the ATS Complex within the airport and has 49 airports under its control, including 19 operational AAI airports, 5 operational private/joint venture airports, 5 non-operational airports, 12 military airports, and 8 disused airfields. These include 6 international airports, 15 domestic airports, and 3 customs airports. Chennai airport is the centre of the southern flight information region (FIR), one of the four FIRs that the Indian air space is divided into. The regional executive director (RED) is responsible for the air traffic services over the Chennai FIR and airport management on ground at the airports in South India. The Chennai FIR includes terrestrial air space above the four southern states and two southern union territories and the oceanic air space of the southern part of the Bay of Bengal and the eastern part of the Arabian Sea. Coordination with the neighbouring national FIRs of Kolkata and Mumbai and with the neighbouring international FIRs of Sri Lanka, Kuala Lampur, and Yangon for air traffic control purposes are being made with telecommunication links (both voice and data). Tata, Fraport, Celebi, Sahara, GMR, GVK and Essar have shown interest.

• published: 10 Apr 2016
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