Madras, also known as Chennai now had one of the very first airports that were built in India. The Chennai Airport was also the final destination, for the first flight of Air India from Bombay (Mumbai) via the city of Belgaum in the year 1954. The airport in Chennai is named Anna International Airport and was earlier called the Madras International Airport. The airport is situated at Tirusulam, which is 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) south of the city of Chennai, India. The very first terminal for passengers was built at the north-eastern side of the airfield, which is located in the suburb of Meenambakkam and because of this reason it was called the Meenambakkam Airport. A new passenger terminal complex was then constructed subsequently at Tirusulam. All the passenger operations were then transferred to this particular terminal. The previous terminal building is now being used as a terminal for cargo and is now a base for, Blue Dart, an Indian courier company.

During the period from April 2006 to December 2010, the Chennai International Airport was the 3^rd busiest airport in India in terms of overall as well as international passenger traffic. The Chennai Airport is built along Tirusulam and Meenambakkam with its passenger entry terminal at Tirusulam and cargo entry terminal at Meenambakkam. The terminal at Tirusulam, which is the international terminal, has been named after Tamil Nadu’s Former Late Chief Minister, Annadurai. On the other hand, the domestic terminal of the Chennai Airport is named after another one of Tamil Nadu’s Former Chief Minister, Kamaraj. The airport in Chennai is actually constructed on the land which has been donated by L. Sriramuly Naidu, a former governor of the Madras Presidency.

Three terminals make up the Chennai International Airport. The oldest terminal situated at Meenambakkam is basically used just for cargo. On the other hand, the terminal at Tirusulam is a passenger terminal and handles all the passenger operations. The terminal complex for passengers is made up of both, the international as well as the domestic terminals which are linked together by a link building. The link building has in it, a restaurant and also the administrative block. Although the whole building is a single structure, it was built one by one. The Meenambakkam terminal came first and was later followed by the Anna and the Kamaraj terminals which were added to the building in 1988.

The one which was built first was the international terminal. This consisted of two aerobridges or jetways, which was later followed by the domestic terminal which consisted of three aerobridges or jetways. Once the new terminals were completed, the old one at Meenambakkam was used for cargo exclusively. Very recently, there was an extension made to the international terminal, extending it further south by constructing a whole new block which consists of three aerobridges. Currently, the new extended international block is being used for the purpose of departure, while the old one is being used solely for arrival purposes.

Article Posted By : tamil  On May 27, 2011lView All Articles

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http://www.veethi.com/articles/the-busiest-airport-in-the-south-india--chennai-airport-article-23.htm

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chennai airport , chennai , anna international airport , airport in chennai