Vice President M Hamid Ansari on Thursday inaugurated the newly built International and Domestic terminals at the airport here and upgraded air facilities, all completed at a cost of over Rs 2,000 crore by the Airports Authority of India.
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who was originally scheduled to participate, boycotted the function since the Centre had not responded favourably to her demand to name domestic Terminal 2 after her mentor, AIADMK founder and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M G Ramachandran.
In his address Ansari said Chennai airport is the “premier” international gateway and air hub for South India, besides being the third busiest airport in the country.
“It has attained greater importance in view of India’s Look East Policy due to which greater economic and commercial integration with countries of East Asia and South East Asia is taking place at a rapid pace.”
“Consequently, passenger and freight traffic to and from these countries is bound to rise in the times to come. With Chennai being the natural gateway due to geographical proximity, the upgrade and modernisation of the airport is a timely and appropriate initiative,” he said.
As a vital infrastructure, civil aviation plays an essential role in the economic progress and integration of a country and it has an important role to play in promotion of travel, trade and tourism, he said.
“During natural calamities, harsh weather conditions as in places like Leh, Kargil and the Islands, air transport is the most viable mode. Civil aviation also makes a vital contribution on integrating the country with the rest of the world,” he noted.
Better air services help improve competitiveness of industry and exports and by expanding the size of the market aviation acts as a ‘spur’ for innovation, he said.
With a 15 per cent Compounded Annual Growth in air transport in India in the last 10 years, he said he has been told the government of India has given in-principle approval for 15 Greenfield airports with AAI upgrading and modernising 35 non-metro airports.
“These steps will definitely help in providing better facilities and connectivity to citizens in the coming decades,” he said.