Chennai airport to handle 100 more flights

CHENNAI: The city airport will be able to handle around 100 more flights by the end of the year as two rapid exit taxiways, which are being constructed, are expected to be ready by then. Currently, the airport handles around 400 flights per day. The taxiways will help planes exit the runways soon after landing and move to the taxiway so that air traffic controllers will be able to allow more planes to take off and land from the main and the second runway, thereby increasing the flight handling capacity of the airport.
Sources said the work, which is part of phase two expansion of the airport, is crucial to handle more aircraft. The airport’s capacity will go up to 450 to 500 if the rapid exit taxiways are ready. As the airport does not have rapid exit taxiways, aircraft take around 10 minutes to vacate the runway. In the case of the second runway, it takes longer as planes that land on the second runway have to taxi down and cross the main runway to reach the terminals.