At 4.15 a.m., the departure area at the new airport terminal here was buzzing with activity. Eager passengers came flocking to board the SpiceJet flights to Pune and Kolkata respectively just past 5 a.m.
The take off of two SpiceJet aircraft marked the start of regular departure of domestic flights from the new Chennai airport terminal. With this, the new terminal now handles both arrival and departure.
It was a flawless take off and things went well, said H. D. Suresh, Chennai Airport Director.
On the auspicious day of Amavasya on Wednesday, the first flight (of SpiceJet) took off from the new terminal. Today, along with SpiceJet, JetAirways too operated its flight from the new terminal. The other airlines — AirIndia, IndiGo and GoAir — will shift to the new terminal from Thursday in a phased manner, he told Business Line.
The Chennai airport handles a total of 45 flights a day. Of this, today, around 60 per cent of the flights (both arrival and departure), were handled at the new terminal , he said.
A number of check-in counters for each airline made the entire flow quicker. However, a big queue was seen at the security check.
For motorists dropping the passengers in the first floor (ground floor is for arrival), it is a long drive back to the city in the elevated structure, which stretches over a km. There were lengthy arguments between passengers and taxi drivers — the latter asking for extra money to travel the additional distance. “It was my first visit to the terminal, and I did not expect to travel such a long distance after dropping people,” said Perumal, a driver with FastTrack.
There was some confusion among passengers travelling in flights other than SpiceJet. These passengers were dropped at the new terminal, but were told to go to the old terminal to take the flight, frustrating them early morning.
But for this, there was no major hiccup in the whole operations.