Chennai International Airport (MAA), Madras

The airport at a glance

• Chennai International Airport (MAA) handled over 22 million passengers in the 2024–25 financial year, plus 0.37 million tonnes of cargo. It is about 21 km south-west of the city centre, at Tirusulam, and is the southern regional headquarters of the Airports Authority of India.
• It is a focus city for Air India and an operating base for IndiGo. Major international carriers include Emirates, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, British Airways, Lufthansa and Cathay Pacific.
• The airport has two runways. The new Terminal 2 draws on Tamil culture: its exterior echoes Dravidian temple architecture and its floors carry kolam patterns.

Terminals

• Terminals 1 and 4 handle domestic flights. Terminal 2 handles international flights.
• Terminal 2 is the new integrated terminal. It replaced the older Terminals 2 and 3, which stood between Terminals 1 and 4, and began partial operations on 7 July 2023. The old Terminal 3 was demolished to extend it.
• Terminal 1 has seven gates and 52 check-in counters. Terminal 4 was originally built for international flights.
• A satellite terminal near the secondary runway is planned, to be linked to the main buildings by a 1.5 km tunnel. It was still under construction at the time of writing.

Getting into Madras (Chennai)

• Metro: Chennai International Airport station on the Chennai Metro. Its concourse links directly to the passenger terminals, and shuttle services run between the station and the terminals.
• Suburban train: Tirusulam station on the Chennai Suburban Railway is integrated with the metro station and the airport.
• Bus: Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) city buses serve the airport along the Grand Southern Trunk Road (NH 32).
• Taxi and ride-hailing: several taxi and car-rental companies operate at the airport. Ola and Uber pick up outside the terminal.

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Lounges

• Terminal 2 (international): the Travel Club Lounge is on the third floor, after security and immigration. Follow the signs for "CIP Lounges" and go upstairs.
• The Terminal 2 lounge has two separate areas: one for business class and status passengers, and one for Priority Pass holders and day-pass buyers.
• Domestic passengers have separate Travel Club lounges in the domestic terminals.

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What's coming

• The satellite terminal, linked to the main buildings by a 1.5 km tunnel, is part of the Phase II expansion. This expansion aims to raise terminal capacity to 35 million passengers a year from 18 million.
• The airport is expected to reach saturation by 2035, with a peak capacity of 40 million passengers. The Tamil Nadu government selected Parandur, in Kanchipuram district, in August 2022 as the site for a second airport.