K. Annamalai. File
| Photo Credit: S. Siva Saravanan
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s announcement of the cancellation of the Parandur airport project came with “an opportunity cost that the State government needs to consider carefully,” We The Leaders founder K. Annamalai said on Monday (August 24, 2026). He said it would have been helpful if the Chief Minister had proposed a new site, as the delay in identifying the location would set the State’s development back by at least 10 years.
“Even if the Tamil Nadu government chose to move forward with a second airport instead of Parandur through an administrative decision soon, finding a site, taking approval from the Central government and statutory bodies, issuing tenders, acquiring land, and securing licences could take at least 10 years before the airport becomes operational. Meanwhile, other States would be advancing, leaving us behind,” Mr. Annamalai said in a social media post.
Contending that one “should first accept that the current airport in Chennai is insufficient even by today’s standards,” Mr. Annamalai pointed out that Chennai’s airport spanned a 1,300-acre land parcel, while Hyderabad’s airport spanned approximately 5,500 acres, Bengaluru’s 4,000 acres, Navi Mumbai’s 2,866 acres, and Delhi’s 5,100 acres. “With such a small space, the current airport in Chennai should ideally offer a better customer experience, but taking local transport from the arrivals area is a nightmare today.”
Chennai was once the gateway to South India, he said. “Today, Chennai airport ranks 5th in total passenger-handling capacity, with a capacity of 30 million passengers per year. Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad are above Chennai on this table. The present Chennai airport is not classified as a Code F airport due to inadequate taxiways and aerobridges, which make landing large aircraft such as the A380 unsuitable at Chennai. In the South, the Bengaluru and Hyderabad airports can handle large aircraft.”
Mr. Annamalai further requested the Tamil Nadu government to accelerate the process of identifying a suitable location for the second airport in Chennai at the earliest, as delays in site identification could “push us well beyond 10 years.” “Parties may come and go. Governments will change. But 20 years later, when the people of Tamil Nadu look back, they should not feel suffocated by a sick building that we would still call an airport, because the administrators of the day lacked the ability to forecast.”
He also pointed out that in March this year, news reports stated that the Tamil Nadu government had acquired 1,700 acres for the Parandur airport project, out of the 5,746 acres needed. He asked: “What does the State government now intend to do with this acquired land?”
Published – August 24, 2026 03:50 pm IST
