Tiruchirappalli International Airport

History

Beginning and establishment

The first flight landed at the airport on 23 December 1936 when Tata Sons operated an airmail service between Madras and Colombo via Tiruchirappalli. The flight was operated by a Miles M4A Merlin aircraft (registration VT-AHC), and was piloted by Homi Dhanjishaw Bharucha. A weekly airmail operated on the Bombay–Tiruchirappalli route, with various stopovers, during early 1937 which later made connection to the Colombo service at Tiruchirappalli. The regular airmail service on the Madras–Colombo route began on 28 February 1938. During the early years, the airfield consisted of a 600 m runway and an Air traffic control tower.

Second World War

During the Second World War, RAF station Kajamalai was established at the airfield by the British Royal Air Force. The aircraft landed in the airfield for carrying out repairs at the nearby workshop at Ponmalai. The base was used from May 1942 to early 1944, with three squadrons operating out of the airfield.

It served as the headquarters of the No. 173 Wing (25 November 1942–19 October 1943) and No. 171 Wing (1 August–8 November 1943) during the war. During and after the war, the airfield was used for aircraft maintenance and calibration. It housed the Nos. 121, 101, and 138 Repair & Salvage units (1942–1945), No. 2 Civil Maintenance unit (1943–1946), No. 1580 Calibration Flight (February 1944–October 1945), No. 1583 Calibration Flight (February 1944–15 November 1945). It was also used as a center for ferry flights (April 1944–February 1946), and as a staging post (March 1945–April 1946), and personnel transit centre (September 1945–November 1945).

Post Indian Independence

In 1947, the Ceylon government requested the Indian government permission to operate flights between Colombo and Trichinopoly in 1947. The Indian government improved the airport to make it operational for commercial flights with the flight operations to Colombo beginning in February 1948. On 3 December 1948, Air Ceylon inaugurated a regular weekly commercial service between Colombo and Karachi, using a Douglas DC-3 aircraft via Tiruchirappalli and Bombay. In 1950, Air Ceylon operated daily flights from Colombo to Tiruchirapalli via Jaffna. Two years later, Air India started operating daily flights on the Bombay-Madras-Tiruchirappalli-Colombo route, which was later transferred to the Indian airlines.

Expansion and modernisation

In the late 1980s, Air Lanka operated regular weekly flights from Tiruchirappalli to Colombo. In the 1990s, Indian Airlines started operating regular international flights to the Middle east. In the late 2000s, the airport became a hub for low cost carriers operating to South East Asia. A new passenger terminal building was commissioned in 2009, and the old passenger terminal was converted to handle cargo operations. The airport was categorised as a customs airport until 4 October 2012, when it was given international status by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. In 2012, a request was made to name the airport after scientist C. V. Raman, who was from the city. Later, requests were made to rename the airport after A. P. J. Abdul Kalam in 2015.

As a part of a proposed expansion plan in the 2010s, the AAI intended to expand the airport by 510 acre with the extension of the runway, addition of new parking bays, and construction of a new passenger terminal and ATC complex. In 2014, the airport was one of the non-metro airports selected for development in a Public-Private Partnershipmodel. The new integrated passenger terminal was opened in 2024 and replaced the terminal built in 2009.

Facilities

Runway

The airport has a single 2427 m long runway 09/27 (Northeast–Southwest orientation) equipped with CAT-I Instrument Landing System for IFR. The old 1456 m runway 15/33 was closed as part of early development, and is used as an alternate taxiway to the main apron. The re-carpeting work on the active runway 09/27 was completed during February 2020 to July 2021 at a cost of . In 2025, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) proposed to extend the primary runway to 12500 ft at a cost of .

Apron and taxiways

There were four taxiways designated from A to D, which connected to the main apron with seven parking stands. The ministry of civil aviation initiated the plan to expand the apron to provide two more aircraft bays, increasing the bay count to nine. The AAI has expanded the existing apron with the construction of a third aerobridge and ramp equipment area, measuring 2800 m2 at an estimated cost of , which became active in January 2019. In December 2023, a new apron of 15580 m2 area was added with ten additional parking stands (10 to 20), three parallel taxiways (E1 to E3) and four new taxiways (F to J).

Passenger terminal

The airport has three adjacent terminals. The original passenger terminal was replaced by a new terminal in 2009, which was later replaced by a new integrated passenger terminal in 2024. The passenger terminal, inaugurated on 21 February 2009, was built at a cost of , and started operations from 1 June 2009. The two-story terminal has a floor area of 11777 m2 with a handling capacity of 490,000 passengers per annum, and peak hour capacity of 470 passengers. It was equipped with 12 check-in counters, four customs counters, 16 immigration counters, three conveyor belts, five scanners, and four security check units.

Due to the increase in air traffic, it was planned to expand the existing terminal by 180 m on both sides, by constructing an additional 17920 m2 area, which would increase the passenger handling capacity to 1,075 peak-hour passengers. Later, the plan was shelved in favour of the construction of a new two-level passenger terminal at a cost of in February 2019. The construction started after the foundation stone was laid on 10 February 2019, with the project expected to completed on October 2021. The terminal is situated on the southern side, and a four-lane elevated access road was built from the NH-336 passing besides the original terminal.

The terminal was designed by a French company, Egis Group, in partnership with the British architectural firm, Pascall+Watson. The construction contract was awarded to ITD Cementation in August 2018. It was completed at a cost of and was inaugurated on 2 January 2024. The building has an area of 75000 m2, with capacity to handle 4.5 million passengers annually and 3,480 passengers during peak hour. It began operations from 11 June 2024. The terminal's design is inspired by the monuments of Tiruchirapalli, Tamil festivals and art forms. A replica of the south gopuram (ornate tower at the entrance of Hindu temples) of the Ranganathaswamy temple, is placed along the main entrance. The roof of the terminal has been designed with elements from Dravidian architecture. The terminal consists of 11 boarding gates with five aerobridges, 26 domestic and 34 international check-in counters, 60 immigration counters, 44 emigration counters, five baggage carousels, three lounges, 19 baggage scanning systems, and an associated parking splace for 1250 cars and 10 buses with electric charging bays.

Cargo terminal

After the construction of a new passenger terminal in 2009, the old terminal was converted into a cargo complex at a cost of . The cargo complex is spread over an area of 4000 m2 with the export wing occupying 2193 m2 and 1750 m2 demarcated for imports. It started operations on 21 November 2011 after the Central Board of Excise and Customs approved and notified the airport as an air cargo complex. The cargo terminal has a holding capacity of 250 metric tonnes, and serves as an export hub for the central region of Tamil Nadu. On 11 October 2013, a cold storage facility, with a capacity of five-metric tons, was inaugurated at the airport. On 21 April 2017, an additional dedicated import cargo facility was established on a 190 m2 area at a cost of .

Air traffic control

The Air Traffic Control (ATC) is located alongside the old terminal building. As a part of the expansion project, a new ATC building and technical block were proposed to be constructed. The 46 m tall ATC tower was planned to be constructed at a cost of , with work beginning in July 2023.

Other facilities

Air Works operates a line maintenance facility to conduct transit checks on Airbus A320 aircraft operated by Scoot. Air India Express maintains an engineering stores and maintenance facility for service and repairs of its aircraft.

The Madras Flying Club was established in 1929, and operated from the Chennai airport. In 2018, it announced plans to shift operations to Tiruchirapalli due to congestion and operational difficulties at Chennai. It began operations at the airport on 10 January 2020, with six training aircraft. The Government of Tamil Nadu allocated 2 acre of its land adjacent to the airport for the club to set up its operational infrastructure.

Airlines and destinations

| AirAsia | Kuala Lumpur–International | Air India Express | Abu Dhabi, Bengaluru, Doha, Dubai–International, Muscat, Sharjah, Singapore, Thiruvananthapuram | Batik Air Malaysia | Kuala Lumpur–International | IndiGo | Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi Hyderabad, Jaffna, Mumbai, Singapore | Scoot | Singapore |SriLankan Airlines | Colombo–Bandaranaike

Connectivity

The airport is located on the National Highway 336, with government bus services connecting the airport to the central bus terminus and major railway stations in Tiruchirappalli.

Accidents and incidents

• On 21 December 1949, an Air Ceylon flight operated by a Douglas DC-3 aircraft (named "Sunethra Devi" and registered as VP-CAT) from Colombo to Tiruchirappalli via Jaffna, crash landed at the airport. There were no fatalities but all three crew members along with one of the 21 passengers sustained injuries. The accident was caused by engine issues, and the aircraft was heavily damaged and written off.
• On 25 December 1965, a Douglas DC-3 aircraft (registered as VT-DUC) met with an accident while landing at the airport. The accident was determined as due to pilot error, and the aircraft received substantial damage with injuries to one passenger and two crew members.
• On 29 May 1980, Indian Airlines flight IC529, a Boeing 737-200 (registered as VT-EGD), operating from Madras to Tiruchirappalli 122 passengers and 6 crew members, could not land at the airport and sustained damage to its left wing during a go-around. The flight returned to Madras and landed safely with the plane sustaining substantial damage.
• On 11 October 2018, Air India Express flight IX611 from Tiruchirappalli to Dubai, operated by Boeing 737-800 (registered as VT-AYD), suffered a tail strike, and hit the ILS and boundary wall while taking off at 1:18 a.m. The pilots continued the flight, and the flight was diverted to Mumbai, where it landed safely. The fuselage, engine cowling and flight control surfaces were severely damaged with debris lodged in the landing gear.
• On 11 October 2024, Air India Express flight IX613, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft (registered as VT-AYB), flying from Tiruchirapalli to Sharjah, suffered a hydraulic failure in its landing gear assembly. After engaging in a holding pattern over the airport for over two hours, the flight, with 141 passengers, landed safely at the airport.

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