Chennai: A significant police presence has been established in Chinna Udaippa village, Madurai district, Tamil Nadu, where local residents are protesting the expansion of the airport. Over a thousand police officers have been deployed to ensure law and order amid the protests.
The protesters are demanding compensation of three cents of land and a house in exchange for the land being acquired for the Madurai airport expansion. Officials are set to visit Chinna Udaippa for the land acquisition process. The current Madurai airport occupies 502.25 acres and is set to acquire an additional 633.17 acres, with 543.64 acres already transferred for the expansion.
Madurai Collector M.S. Sangeetha has authorized the land acquisition needed to construct an alternative road, which is necessary for completing a compound wall around the newly acquired land. The airport has already built a 12.36 km compound wall on this land.
Despite receiving a new terminal building in 2010 and operating international flights to destinations such as Singapore, Dubai, and Colombo, the airport has yet to achieve international status. During the 2023-24 period, it served 1.4 million passengers, and around-the-clock operations began on October 1.
AAI Chairman M. Suresh stated that the number of flights from Madurai airport is expected to increase significantly in the next six months. Virudhunagar MP B. Manickam Tagore mentioned that while obtaining international status may take longer, the airport will soon see more domestic flights, including new connections to Varanasi and Pune. Currently, Madurai is connected by air to Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and New Delhi.
To accommodate the growing number of passengers, the airport has reconfigured its terminal building, aiming to improve passenger flow and reduce waiting times. Although the terminal and runway currently meet existing traffic demands, officials warn that the airport’s capacity will soon be reached as new services are introduced. They emphasize that expanding the airport is essential to prevent congestion, making the land acquisition necessary.