Karaikal To Get Country's First International Private Airport

The Karaikal Airport Private Limited would soon become the first ever private airport in the country to be established without the participation of both the local government and the Airport Authority of India. As the required clearances were obtained for the proposed airport, the first phase of the construction of the private merchant airport is expected to roll out in months.

The Karaikal Greenfield airport as it is termed. Greenfield airport, an airport which would be constructed at an undeveloped site starting out from the scratch, the 560 acres project would bring a sense of delight for the frequent flyers and pilgrims visiting a score of pilgrimages around Karaikal, an enclave of Puducherry and also in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu. The upcoming Karaikal Airport Private Limited a whole subsidiary of the Coimbatore based Super Airport Private limited would certainly be an asset for the development of tourism and investment activities across the coastal districts.

J V Chowdhury, Chairman of Super Airport Infrastructure said,“We obtained a clearance from the Ministry of Civil Aviation by June, 2011 and we have also received the clearances from the Environment ministry and the Puducherry government respectively. As soon as the required capital has been raised through banks and private equities, we would complete the first phase of construction in 18 months,” The cost of the construction of first phase of the Karaikal airport is estimated at Rs100 crores for establishing a 1.8 Km run way with 150 Peak Hour Passenger handling capacity for the Karaikal airport. “Based on the feedback from the first phase of the airport, we would carry out other expansion activities such as extending the run way and increasing the capacity.” He added.

With the proposed 1.8 Km stretch run way, Medium level passenger fleets such as Q400 with an operating range of 900 Kms and with a seating capacity of 70-76 members can take off conveniently from the Karaikal airport. However, huge planes such as Boeing 737 and Airbus could not be operated at full capacity at the first phase of the airport, the officials here are confident about expanding the terminal in upcoming years thereby serving long range destinations.

Considering the gravity of the tourist destinations and with lakhs of devotees visiting various religious centers situated around the Karaikal and Nagapattinam including the Saturn temple at Thirunallar, iconic Shrine Basilica in Velankanni and the Nagore Dargha. The upcoming Karaikal airport would ease the piling pilgrims’ traffic at Tiruchy and Puducherry airports situated quite far away from the religious destinations. Besides, with the MARG- Karaikal port already in operation the upcoming airport at Karaikal would certainly boost various investment activities and infrastructure development in the district.