29.12.08

Kolkata Airport upgradation starts....

Work starts at the Kolkata airport, so in a few years the country would have 4 upgraded airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata in addition to the two swanky ones in Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

The Kolkata airport upgrade will be a test case for AAI to prove its mettle. Deep piling work for the integrated passenger terminal has already commenced last month. The entire project — which includes laying of an additional taxi track and parking bays, as well as upgrade of communication and navigation systems and constructing a state-of-theart ATC tower and technical block — is to be completed by May 2011. The upgraded Kolkata airport will have a new integrated passenger terminal building, adding 1,80,000 sq metre, which will enhance the airport’s handling capacity during peak hour from 2,850 passengers to 9,220 passengers. The steel-and-glass terminal will have modern passenger amenities such as travellators, escalators, elevators, passenger boarding bridges, in-line baggage conveyer system and multi-level car parking. Ramalingam said AAI was in talks with Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation (KMRC) to extend the East-West Metro to the airport, so that passengers could avail of it. KMRC has forwarded the proposal to funding agency Japan Bank of International Corporation.

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