Chennai residents will soon be able to avoid the traffic delay of reaching the city airport. Authorities plan to soon provide hassle-free check-in facilities at select metro stations. Passengers will be able to take the metro for flights instead of busy roads. Furthermore, they would be able to avoid check-in rush at the airport.
The Chennai Airport Authority is working with the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) for this plan of airport check-in at metro stations. Talks for providing the facility were held with Indigo, Air India and Vistara and the plan has been finalised, Chennai Airport Authority Director Sharad Kumar said.
The traffic at Chennai Airport has gone up after Covid-19. With increased footfall, some passengers face difficulty in reaching the airport with their baggage. Apart from providing passengers with a hassle-free experience, the move could ease traffic on roads leading to fall in pollution levels too.
The authorities aim to reduce check-in rush at the airport if 50 percent of the passengers opt to reach the airport by the metro. Officials explored the possibility of having departure check-ins at metro stations with airlines in a meeting on Wednesday.
The airport check-in at metro stations is a “preconceived plan”, Kumar added. A CMRL feasibility study on it is expected by the end of the month. A trial run will begin from March 2023.
“As of now we have talked to and finalised Indigo, Air India, and Vistara airlines to provide this facility. This is a preconceived plan where 65 pc of traffic at Chennai is domestic crowd,” Kumar was quoted as saying.
Limited operations of the airport check-in facility at select Chennai metro stations will start from March on a trial basis. If all goes well, full-fledged operations will begin by April 14. Airlines will take the responsibilities of commuters’ baggage and transfer it to the airport, the Airport Authority director added.
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(With inputs from ANI)
