A swanky new terminal would welcome passengers at Tiruchi International Airport this coming year and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the facility, tentatively on January 2.
Contemporary in design with geometrical roof and façade, the new integrated terminal building (NITB) fuses elements from local heritage and culture, especially the temple architecture of the region, too. A huge temple-tower like structure, resembling the Rajagopuram of Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, serves as the main entrance at the ground level of the terminal building.
“The NITB will have a floor area of 75,000 square metres in two levels, with the arrival lounge situated on the ground floor and the departure on the next level. It can handle about 4.5 million passengers annually, three times the capacity of the existing terminal at the airport. It will be able to handle a peak hour passenger traffic of 3,480 (2,400 international and 1,080 domestic),” an airport official said.
