Stakeholders’ meeting on airport development held at Coimbatore

A stakeholders’ meeting on airport planning and development was held on Monday in the city, as a part of the Coimbatore NXT initiative. District collector Pavankumar K Giriyappanavar attended the meeting.
The meeting focused on the proposal to establish an interim facility to meet the region’s rapidly increasing air traffic demand, ahead of the construction of the new airport.
The airport currently handles about 3.25 million passengers annually and its occupancy rate is 89.53%, reaching 100% during peak hours. It is the second busiest airport in the state, and ranks 22 in the country. The Coimbatore-Tirupur region has ranked the 10th richest metropolitan area in the country by GDP. It highlights the region’s strong economic influence and potential for greater air traffic.
The cargo throughput has also surged, with 12,139 tons handled in FY 2024–25, marking a 36% year-on-year increase. The current terminal, with a design capacity of 3.63 million passengers per annum, is expected to reach saturation by FY 2025–26. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has projected a requirement of 5.1 MPPA by 2027-28.
To address this immediate capacity shortfall, stakeholders proposed an interim solution to expand the airport’s handling capacity to 10 MPPA, ensuring seamless operations until the NITB is operational.
The committee also discussed a new 4.5 km road connectivity proposal from Codissia Junction to the upcoming terminal. It is expected to reduce travel time significantly, and enhance accessibility is expected to bolster passenger convenience and operational efficiency.
The meeting was co-chaired by R Nandini, immediate past chairperson, and CII southern region, Vijay Mohan, founder of Pricol. Representatives from various organizations including CII, CODISSIA, ICCI, IIF, SIMA, SEIMA, TEA, Siruthuli, RAAC, CREDAI, and Kongu Global Forum attended the meeting.
Industry leaders Vanitha Mohan, A Sakthivel, Shankar Vanavarayavar, Rajesh B Lund, Mithun Ramdas, G Soundararajan, D Srinivasan, Arjun Prakash, S Prashanth, and J Sathish are members of Coimbatore NEX.