Trial runs begin at new integrated terminal at Chennai airport

The next trial will occur on April 28 with the arrival and departure flights of IndiGo airlines

Passengers who flew through the US-Bangla Airlines were the first to use the new integrated terminal at the Chennai airport on Tuesday, as the trials commenced.

Officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said the flight from Dhaka arrived in the city at 1.06 p.m. with 191 passengers and subsequently left for Dhaka at 2.16 p.m. with 192 passengers.

“The trial operation went smoothly with the cooperation of all airport stakeholders while facilities, including check-in, immigration, customs, ATRS, baggage handling systems, fixed link bridges’ and aerobridges were methodically operated for seamless functionality complying with the Operational Readiness and Airport Transfer (ORAT*) process,” a press release said.

The next trial will occur on April 28 with the arrival and departure flights of IndiGo airlines, the release said. The trials will continue for sometime with more flights from different airlines till the operations stabilise in the new terminal. As of now, only narrow-body aircraft will be operated in this building, but by the end of next month, wide-body aircraft will begin operations too, the release said.