A special meeting will be held in Delhi in a week for the in-principle approval of the greenfield Parandur airport planned near Chennai, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said on Thursday.
The second airport for Chennai at Parandur has been under discussion for quite some time. The site clearance has been given. The second stage is giving in-principle approval, he told newspersons. He was here to launch the Udan Yatri Cafe at the International airport.
Tamil Nadu had sent a request for in-principle approval which the Centre had done a thorough consultation on. “We are following the due process. In Delhi, we will have a special meeting for the in-principle approval. After the process, we are going to give the approval. So, it is very much in process,” he added.
To a question on villagers protesting against the project in and around Parandur, the Minister said that “While the Centre wants more airports in the country, the States are the ones selecting the project sites. “Any issues related to the land lies with the State government. Wherever they show us the land, we do the feasibility study.”
Tamil Nadu government had said that proposed airport at Parandur would serve as the second airport near Chennai at an investment of ₹20,000 crore to annually handle 10 crore passengers. It will have two runways, terminal buildings, taxiways, an apron, and a cargo terminal.
The Chennai airport handles around 2.2 crore people annually. After the ongoing modernisation work, it can handle 3.5 crore people a year for the next seven years. The Ministry of Defence had also granted a No Objection for the grant of site clearance for the Parandur airport.
On other airports in Tamil Nadu, the Minister said that Coimbatore is a high demand airport with a lot of activity The Centre wanted to improve the operation and has requested the State government for some land which they agreed recently to provide . Once that is done we will go for expansion, then more aircraft and more activity can happen from there.
Under the Regional Connectivity Scheme Udan (RCS-Udan) scheme, three airports – Neyveli, Salem and Vellore – are being developed in Tamil Nadu. One airline plans to start operations between Chennai and Vellore. “We are waiting for the operational licence,” he said.
The RCS-Udan is designed to start in airports with minimum or no activity by providing Viability Gap Funding for three years to help airlines kick start operations, he said.
Pilot training
Vellore is also a good destination for setting up a Flight Trains Organisation (FTO). Efforts are being made to have an FTO at Salem he added. “I will make an open appeal to anyone who is trying to set up an FTO to please come forward. We are trying to facilitate it,” he said.
All over the country there is a high demand for pilots right now. Where there are low airport operations then alternatively these can be facilitated for FTOs. Otherwise running the commercial operations and FTO gets a little difficult, he said.
High air fares
On the government’s intervention to control the increase in air fares, the Minister said that the ticket fare system works according to the demand only. If there is a lot of demand then automatically there will be some price rises. “We are trying to sensitise the airlines and requesting them to keep it reasonable. Internationally, all countries have kept it open. There is no regulation of airfares anywhere because we want the competition to play it. It ultimately has to be an advantage for the passenger who is travelling,” he said.
Recently, during Maha Kumbh Mela, the air fare was high. The Centre sensitised the airlines to keep fares moderate at a certain price. They agreed and made some changes. “We want the competition to also be there and prices also to be very affordable. So, we are continuously discussing with the airlines to ensure that that stays during festivals also,” he said.
