Tuticorin Airport

History

Tuticorin airport was inaugurated in 1992. The first aircraft to land at the airport on 13 April 1992 belonged to the regional carriers Vayudoot. However this service operated only for 14 months.^[5] At that time, the airport had one asphalt runway, oriented 10/28, 1,349 metres (4,426 ft) long, and 45 metres (148 ft) wide. The taxiway was 15 metres (49 ft) wide and 225 metres (738 ft) long. Three years later, NEPC Airlines operated their Fokker F-27 aircraft from Chennai to Thoothukudi via Kochi. That service too, only lasted six months. A decade later, Air Deccan began flights to the airport on 1 April 2006.^[5]

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Structure

The airport has two parking bays. Stand 1 is to the east of the apron, and Stand 2 is to the west. Stand No. 1 for an ATR 72 or lesser type of ACFT, and stand No. 2 for a Bombardier Q400 or lesser type of ACFT. while its terminal building can handle 120 passengers during peak hours. Navigational aids at Tuticorin airport include NDB TU, PAPI lights, and an aerodrome beacon. The DGCA has granted it a higher category license, moving it from VFR to IFR on 30 June 2020. Tuticorin Airport is capable of all-weather day and night operations at low visibility of less than 5 metres (16 ft). The air traffic control tower is located to the north of Apron and has Aerodrome Control (ADC), Surface Movement Control (SMC), and Approach Control (APP) units. The air traffic services unit is provided with meteorological information.^[6]

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Expansion

In September 2020, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) stated that it was initiating an expansion project that included widening of the runway, constructing a new Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower, and constructing a new terminal building at a total cost of 381 crore. The Government of Tamil Nadu had handed over 600.97 acres of land to the AAI in December 2018 for expansion of the airport. An additional 110 acres of land was set aside for the Indian Air Force and the Indian Coastguard. The 96.77 crore expansion project initiated on 25 July 2020^[7] included increasing of runway width from 30 to 45 m (98 to 148 ft) to handle Code-4C aircraft.^[8], expansion of the apron to accommodate five Airbus A320 type aircraft measuring 191 m × 89 m (627 ft × 292 ft) in dimension, a new isolation bay for Code C aircraft and a 244.4 m × 30 m (802 ft × 98 ft) taxi link way. A technical block and a fire station were also part of the project.^[9] Night landing facilities were established at the airport on 29 June 2020, and their first operation began on 3 July 2020.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new terminal building on 26 July 2025.^[10]^[11] The new terminal building covers an area of 17,341 square metres, with 4 entry gates and is able to handle 1440 passengers during peak hours with 21 check in counters, 7 baggage scanner, 644 SHA seating capacity and 3 aerobridges.

Airlines	Destinations
IndiGo	Bengaluru, Chennai
SpiceJet	Chennai

Naming

There has been a longstanding public demand to rename Thoothukudi Airport as Rao Bahadur Cruz fernandez Domestic airport,Thoothukudi. He was the longest serving chairman of Thoothukudi (Tuticorin) Municipality and is considered the father and architect of Modern Tuticorin. Renaming the airport would serve as a lasting tribute to his Several social organizations and political leaders from Tuticorin have raised this request to the Government of India.^{[citation needed]}

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Statistics

This graph was using the legacy Graph extension, which is no longer supported. It needs to be converted to the new Chart extension.

Annual passenger traffic at TCR airport. See Wikidata query.

Tuticorin Airport

History

Structure

Expansion

Airlines and destinations

Naming

Statistics

See also

References

External links

Wikiwand - on