Tiruchirappalli International Airport is an international airport serving Tiruchirappalli in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The airport, spread over an area of 702.02 acre, is located on National Highway 336, about 5 km south of the city centre. As of 2024, it is the 31st busiest airport in India for passengers handled and 10th busiest for total international aircraft movement. It is the third-busiest airport in the state in terms of passengers served after Chennai and Coimbatore, and the second-busiest airport in the state in terms of international connectivity, after Chennai. The airport handled by Airports Authority of India is served by two Indian and five foreign carriers providing direct connectivity to four domestic and ten international destinations. The airport is ISO 9001:2008 quality certified and was declared as an international airport in October 2012. The airport's oldest terminal was converted into a cargo complex, while a new passenger terminal was built with three aerobridges. In January 2024, a new integrated passenger terminal was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

History

Pre-World War II

The first known history of commercial flight landing at the airport dates back to 23 December 1936 when Tata Sons, Ltd. operated an Indo-Ceylon special airmail service between Madras and Colombo via Trichinopoly carrying Christmas mails connecting their regular airmail service between Karachi and Madras via Bhuj, Ahmedabad, Bombay, Hyderabad. The Special "Goodwill Flight" was operated by Miles M4A Merlin aircraft registered as VT-AHC and piloted by H. D. Barucha, the return flight to Madras via Trichinopoly occurred the next day. This flight was a precursor for the extension of their regular Karachi-Madras Airmail service until Colombo via Trichinopoly, which began operations on 28 February 1938. There is evidence of weekly Air Mail service in operation on the Bombay-Goa-Cananore-Trivandrum-Tirchinopoly route during early 1937 which later made connection to the Karachi-Colombo Air Mail service at Trichinopoly.

World War II

During World War II, RAF Station Kajamalai was established at the airfield and used by the British Royal Air Force. The base started operating during May 1942 and until the beginning of 1944 the base was primarily used for repair and maintenance of warplanes which on landing were taken to a workshop at Ponmalai 2 km away. The airfield gained prominence during 1944 when planes were brought for calibration and other training activities also ferry flights started using the airfield. During second half of 1944, three squadrons were operating out of the airfield. At the end of war the airfield served as Staging Post and Personnel Transit Centre due to its prominent location. Various units also located at the airfield during and after the war:

Post-World War II

When the Ceylon government asked permission to operate flights between Colombo and Trichinopoly in 1947, the Indian government improved the aerodrome for full functioning and allowed flight operations to Colombo in 1948. On 3 December 1948, Air Ceylon inaugurated a regular weekly commercial service between Colombo and Karachi, using a Dakota flight via Tiruchirappalli and Bombay. During 1950, Air Ceylon operated dedicated daily flights from Colombo to Tiruchirappalli via Jaffna. During 1952, Air India operated daily flights on the Bombay-Madras-Tiruchirappalli-Colombo route, which was later transferred to Indian airlines operated on Madras-Tiruchirappalli-Colombo route. Beginning in the late 1950s, Tiruchirappalli was connected by domestic service with Madras, Madurai, Cochin and Trivandrum by Indian Airlines at different routings during different periods of time. During the 1990s, Indian Airlines started connecting Trichy with Middle Eastern cities like Kuwait and Sharjah. During the 2000s, it also connected Trichy with Ras-Al-Khaimah and Fujairah. Indian Airlines operated up until it was merged with Air India. Starting from late 2000, Trichy was connected with South East Asian destinations like Kuala Lumpur and Singapore by foreign airlines. Air India Express also started connecting Trichy with both Middle East and South East Asian destinations. The airport was categorised as a customs airport until 4 October 2012, when it was given international status by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Terminals

The airport has three adjacent terminals. The original passenger terminal has been converted into an international cargo complex housing the control tower and technical block. In 2009 this was replaced with a modern integrated passenger terminal, which became inactive when the new integrated passenger terminal began operations for both international and domestic air traffic.

New integrated passenger terminal

Currently all passenger movements are handled from the new Integrated Passenger Terminal which was inaugurated on 2 January 2024 and began operations from 11 June 2024. The building has an area of 75000 m2, with capacity to handle 4.5 million passengers per year and peak-hour handling capacity of 3,480 passengers. It has been constructed as per Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) four-star rating standards was constructed at a cost of The terminal's design is inspired by the monuments of Tiruchirapalli, festivals like Pongal, art forms like kolam and ancient Tamil architecture forms like gopurams, placed on both sides of the entrance gates. The large roof of the terminal over the departure concourse is derived from traditional southern Indian architecture. A big temple tower-like structure, resembling the Ranganathaswamy temple, for which Tiruchirapalli is known worldwide, welcomes passengers at the airport. The terminal roof, flooring patterns, column cladding, feature walls and the signage design are inspired by local arts, culture and traditions. The terminal is situated on the existing airport land available on the southern side, for which a new four-lane elevated access road has been built from the NH-336 passing beside the original terminal. The Salient features of the terminal is as following: The terminal was designed by a French company, Egis Group, in partnership with the British architectural firm, Pascall+Watson, as the project managers, completed the design and plan for construction by March 2018. The tender for construction was awarded to ITD Cementation India Limited in August 2018. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the construction of the new terminal through video conferencing from Tiruppur, on 10 February 2019.

Integrated passenger terminal

Until 11 June 2024 operations were handled from the Integrated passenger Terminal. On 11 June 2024 all the operations were shifted from Integrated Passenger Terminal to New Integrated Passenger Terminal. The future usage of this Integrated Passenger Terminal is undecided which was built at a cost of was inaugurated on 21 February 2009 and operations started from 1 June 2009. The two-story terminal has a floor area of 11777 m2 with handling capacity of 0.49 million passengers per annum and peak hour capacity of 470 passengers. Some of the features of the terminal include: The integrated terminal had two lounges, VIP lounge and commercial important persons (CIP) lounge which were managed by AAI.

Cargo terminal

The old terminal was converted into an international cargo complex at a cost of ₹ 10 million. The 4000 m2 cargo complex was commissioned for operations on 21 November 2011. The export wing occupies 2193 m2 and 1750 m2 for the import wing. The Central Board of Excise and Customs had earlier approved and notified the airport as an air cargo complex. The one-time holding capacity of the cargo terminal is 250 metric tonnes. The airport is the gateway for foreign export, as there is no easy way for export from the central region of Tamil Nadu. On 12 July 2013, the Ministry of Finance notified the airport for international courier cargo movement. However, the facilities for the same are yet to be set up by AAI. On 11 October 2013, a five-metric ton capacity cold storage facility was inaugurated at the cargo section. This facility will be helpful during flight delay, flight cancellation, advance booking and holiday bookings of cargo. On 21 April 2017, a dedicated import cargo facility was created on 190 m2 at a cost of to encourage more imports through the airport. At present, the imports are very minimal as compared with the exports. On 1 July 2017, EDI facility was introduced at the cargo terminal. With this facility, speedy and electronic clearance of freight is assured eliminating the manual process, making the export process more simple. This is expected to pave the way for additional commodities being exported from the airport.

Facilities

Runway

The airport's older runway, 15/33, was closed as part of early development, and is now used as an alternate taxiway to the apron. The re-carpeting work on the active runway 09/27 was completed during February 2020 to July 2021, after 10 years, at a cost of.

Apron and taxiway

Stands 10-20 became active on 31 December 2023 located in the new apron of 15,580 sq.m. size built as part of the new terminal. Before January 2024, there were four taxiways designated as A, B, C and D. On 31 December 2023, along with the new apron, parallel taxiway E1, E2, E3 and four new taxiways F, G, H and J were activated.

Air traffic control

All the aircraft flying in the Tiruchirappalli control area and operated out of Tiruchirappalli Airport are handled from the air traffic control (ATC) tower located in the cargo terminal building. Trichy ATC is one of the oldest towers in India, and began operations on 5 November 1960. Along with the new terminal project AAI has proposed to construct a new Category-II technical block cum air traffic control tower. Initially it was proposed to construct a 42.5 meters tall tower, but after a feasibility study was done to increase the height to 75 meters, it was finalised to be 46 meters tall, including the top antenna. Tenders for the construction were floated at a cost of 51.49 crores in July 2022. Work began in July 2023 and was expected to take two years. Salient features of the project are:

Madras Flying Club

The Madras Flying Club started in 1929 during the Madras Presidency during British Raj. Operated previously in Chennai Airport premises, it had to shift its operations to Tiruchirapalli due to congestion and operational difficulties. The academy began its operations at the airport on 10 January 2020, where they have placed 6 training aircraft at the hangar, which was previously used by V.K.N. Aviation Academy. They also have created three computer-aided smart classrooms facility in the airport. The Government of Tamil Nadu has allocated 2 acre of its land adjoining to the airport for the club to set up its operational infrastructure.

Airlines and destinations

Expansion

Tiruchirappalli Airport has been undergoing expansion since 2004. The runway was extended from 6000 ft to 8136 ft, the apron expanded to hold seven aircraft, the fire station upgraded, a new taxiway and the current integrated passenger terminal were constructed. The Phase II expansion on 510 acre by AAI includes extending the runway to 12500 ft, construction of a modern, new Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower, an additional building complex and other works. The Government of Tamil Nadu has agreed to provide land free to AAI for the expansion. The airport is one of the non-metro airports selected for city side development on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.

New integrated passenger terminal

Due to the consistent increase in the air traffic, the existing integrated passenger terminal building became insufficient. Initially, it was planned to expand the existing integrated terminal by 180 meters on both sides, by constructing an additional 17920 m2 area to increase the passenger handling capacity to 1,075 peak-hour passengers, but later, the Ministry of Civil Aviation initiated the construction of a new two-level passenger terminal at a cost of. during February 2019 and completed at a cost of and began operations on 11 June 2024. The expansion project includes the following:

Runway extension

The current runway at the airport is one of the shortest runways among all the international airports in India. The original runway was planned to be expanded in two phases. Phase 1 is completed, and as part of the Phase 2 expansion, the runway is planned to be extended to 10500 ft initially from the existing 2480 m, and later to 12500 ft. AAI has sought land to the Government of Tamil Nadu and once land sought for the expansion is available, the extension would take place. The district administration has expressed its willingness to pay the market price for the land to be acquired. But the extension of the runway is pending for a long time due to delays in acquiring land. The AAI has sought around 510 acre of land for the current expansion. Of the total about 188 acre are dry land, 116 acre wetland, 164.68 acre defense land, 40.59 acre wasteland and 5.8 acre is with Hindu Religious and Charitable Trust. To facilitate fast process on the airport expansion, a joint technical advisory committee involving the departments of agriculture, public works department and revenue had been formed during 2012, which is chaired by Member of Tiruchirapalli Parliamentary Constituency. The current MP of Trichy Mr.Durai Vaiko after election as first order of his business has met the civil aviation minister on 1 July 2024 and demanded for faster action from AAI side to expand the runway as Land acquisition is nearing completion from Local Administration side. The district administration had formed a special team comprising the airport director, revenue divisional officer, joint director of agriculture, officials of Public Works Department, and other agencies concerned to expedite the land acquisition process. The state government has provided administrative sanction to acquire nearly 345.62 acre in May 2017, including dry and wet lands, besides 40 acre of government land. It has been decided to form a team to work on the exercise of land acquisition and payment of compensation. During December 2017, the deputy director general of Defence Estates has provided in principle approval for providing 337.7 acre of land to the AAI, in lieu of land of “equal value” from the state government. The District Administration is also in process of acquiring residential buildings.

Apron expansion

The AAI has expanded the existing apron with the construction of a third aerobridge and ramp equipment area, measuring 2,800 sq.m. at an estimated cost of, which became active in January 2019. The Ministry of Civil Aviation initiated the plan to expand the apron to provide two more aircraft bays, increasing the bay count to nine. Work on additional bays was started in February 2020 at an estimated cost of, Work on one of the bays has been completed and operationalised. Construction of another bay has not started as of January 2024, due to technical constraints. As part of the construction of the new terminal, an additional apron of 15580 m2 size was constructed for parking up to 11 code C aircraft type, along with an isolation bay and GSE area including taxi tracks was completed by 31 December 2023.

Connectivity

Located on the Pudukottai-Trichy National Highway 336 the airport is well connected with frequent City buses to the major bus and railway terminals of the city like Central Bus Stand, Chatram Bus Stand, Srirangam and Trichy Junction. In addition to this, exclusive buses were introduced to originate inside the airport premise destined to Thanjavur, Central Bus Stand and Karur.

Maintenance facilities

Awards

In March 2023, the airport was awarded as the Best Airport In the Asia-Pacific Region in the category of under 2 million passengers per annum by Airports Council International.

Accidents and incidents

Naming the airport

In 2012, a request was made to name the airport after scientist C. V. Raman, who was from the city. There have been requests made to rename the airport after former former President of India A. P. J. Abdul Kalam,.