Air travellers passing through Chennai, Lucknow and Guwahati airports will soon be able to get a sense of being in the respective States when they travel through these airports.

This follows the Airports Authority of India outlining plans for developing new integrated terminals at these airports, hours after the Cabinet gave its nod for the projects on Wednesday.

In Chennai, the new integrated terminal will have a roof which looks like a Bharatnatyam dancer’s dress which will remind passengers that they are in Tamil Nadu, GP Mohapatra, Chairman, AAI, said.

While the integrated terminals in Chennai and Lucknow will be ready by 2021, the construction work in Guwahati will be completed later. The projects will be implemented by the AAI at a cost of over ₹5,082 crore.

“Of the total amount, about 60 per cent will be raised from the debt market and the rest will be from our funds. We will be following the same principle for the next five years too and raise about 60 per cent of the ₹21,000 crore to be invested by us in the next five years,” Mohapatra said.

In response to a question on whether air travellers will have to pay more to travel through these airports, Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, said: “affordability is the number one priority”. While the final decision on how much AAI can charge a passenger travelling through these three airports will be decided by the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority, the government is working to make travel truly affordable for all passengers.

The Minister added that the government will also try and enhance the experience of the traveller by providing digital technology at these airports which will make the customer experience truly delightful.

It is estimated that the airport sector in India is set to see an investment of about ₹1 lakh crore over a period of five years.

Related Topics