The Chennai Airport is the third largest international gateway into India and the third busiest airport after Mumbai and Delhi. Undoubtedly, it is the main air hub for south India, handling over11 million passengers and serving more than 60 different airlines. It is also an important cargo terminus. However, its capacity to handle aircraft movement is likely to be saturated in four or five years.

The Chief Minister had announced that the expansion work will be undertaken very fast. Yet, no work has commenced till now. The land acquisition exercise was started in right earnest by the Kancheepuram district administration. Because of opposition from the local residents and political parties, this work has come to a standstill.

The original plan involved relocation of thousands of families and thus it was given up. Another scheme was formulated. According to this modified scheme, a total of 1069.99 acres was to be acquired at Manappakkam, Kolappakkam, Gerugambakkam and Tharaippakkam villages for the construction of a second runway. It was decided to rehabilitate the 947 families living in this area. The Kanchipuram District administration went ahead with the task of land acquisition. The survey was completed in record time. Things couldn't move any further. Sources say that most of the land proposed to be acquired belong to VIPs and hence the rethinking. Meanwhile, there is an attempt to pursuade the Defence Ministry to part with their land in that area.

If things had moved as announced by the Chief Minister, the foundation for the expansion should have been laid last month. However, the undue delay has raised doubts about the sincerety in implementing the long overdue project.

Bengaluru and Hyderabad airports have been ultramodernised while chennai stays where it was. The travelling public will be put to hardship if the expansion does not take place as scheduled.