Centre want to commence Coimbatore airport expansion works in five months, complete by 2028 end: Civil Aviation Minister

Union Minister of Civil Aviation Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu said on Friday that his Ministry wants to begin the expansion of Coimbatore International Airport within five months and complete it by the end of 2028, upon obtaining the land from the State government without ground issues like litigations and encroachments.

“ I would like to thank the State government for finally allocating the land for airport development. Once the land has been given, we have decided on the plan for the expansion of the airport,” said Mr. Naidu, after launching the interim expansion of existing terminal and passenger amenities at Coimbatore airport.

The present terminal in Coimbatore is 18,000 sqm and the new terminal to be built at a cost of ₹2,100 crore will be spread across 75,000 sqm. According to the Minister, Coimbatore airport is expected to see a passenger footfall of up to 1.5 crore passengers per year in the next 20 years.

As the passenger footfall has increased at the airport, additional space will be created on the first floor of the existing terminal, works for which was launched by the Minister on Friday. The work will be completed in five months.

According to the Minister, the new terminal building will be constructed in line with the city’s aspirations by incorporating the local culture, architecture and history. Since the project amount is huge, it has to get cabinet approval before the tender process, he said.

Responding to continuing demand for flights to Dubai and other international destinations, Mr. Naidu said his Ministry was in the efforts to tackle issues related to ‘point of call’ for Coimbatore and other airports.

Stating that lack of required number of flights was the main bottleneck in aviation, he said there were only 840-odd commercial planes in India as against the demand.

“That is why we have orders for 1,700 planes pending. We need wide-body planes for international connectivity. As and when we get more wide-body planes, I am sure that the airlines will be interested in coming to Coimbatore to give better connectivity,” said the Minister.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Cooperation Murlidhar Mohol, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs L. Murugan and Coimbatore South MLA Vanathi Srinivasan were present.