This critique is not a defence of the status quo. Chennai does need additional aviation capacity. The question is how to get there without spending ₹43,000 crore on the wrong site. There are better alternatives.
The existing Chennai airport at Meenambakkam handled 23.02 million passengers in FY25-26, with a 2.7% growth rate. Its ultimate capacity after ongoing upgrades is estimated at 30+ million passengers per year. At current growth rates, that gives the city at least a decade before the existing airport approaches saturation.
What is already planned or possible at the existing site:
None of this is glamorous. None of it makes for headlines about "world-class infrastructure." But all of it is cheaper, faster, and more certain than a greenfield project 70 km away.
When AAI evaluated four potential sites in 2022, it shortlisted two as feasible: Parandur and Pannur. The government chose Parandur over Pannur based on connectivity, displacement numbers, and land contiguity. But Pannur was not ruled out on technical grounds.
Pannur, by available accounts, has fewer water bodies and less agricultural dependence. It was the alternative that protestors themselves suggested throughout the campaign. The decision to pursue Parandur instead was a political choice, not a technical inevitability.
The TVK government should commission a detailed comparative assessment of Pannur — with proper geotechnical surveys, hydrological studies, and social impact assessments — before looking for entirely new sites.
The majority of Chennai's air traffic originates from the southern and southeastern parts of the city — Adyar, Velachery, OMR, Thoraipakkam, Sholinganallur. These are the IT corridors, the business hubs, and the areas with the highest concentration of frequent flyers.
A second airport on the southern side of Chennai — even if smaller in scale — would capture this demand more effectively than Parandur, which lies to the northwest. Sites in the Chengalpattu or southern Kanchipuram belt deserve serious evaluation.
The best path forward is not binary (Parandur or nothing). It is a phased, integrated strategy:
The choice is not between Parandur and nothing. It is between Parandur — a ₹43,000 crore gamble on a waterlogged site 70 km from the city — and a rational, phased approach that spends less money on more certain outcomes.