Madurai International Airport (IXM) is located in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. The airport operates domestic flights to major cities in India and international flights to Colombo, Dubai and Singapore.
A new integrated passenger terminal building was constructed at the airport by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to meet the growing international and domestic passenger traffic. Built at a cost of Rs1.29bn ($20m), the terminal was officially opened in September 2010.
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A new international cargo terminal building was inaugurated at the airport in November 2017 and the first shipment was dispatched in December 2017.
In 2016 the airport served 969,462 passengers, recorded 11,060 aircraft movements and handled more than 1,545t of cargo.
Madurai airport history
The Madurai airfield was initially used by the British Royal Air Force during World War II in 1942. The first passenger aircraft took off from the airfield in 1956 and Madurai International Airport was established in 1957.
It was notified as a customs airport in December 2011 and began international commercial services in September 2012.
A new integrated passenger terminal was developed in 2010 as part of the AAI’s plan to upgrade and modernise 35 Indian non-metro airports at an estimated cost of $1bn.
Madurai International Airport terminal facilities
The airport features an integrated passenger terminal building catering international and domestic passengers.
The terminal occupies an area of 17,600m² and has the capacity to process 500 passengers an hour. It houses 36 check-in counters, 20 immigration counters, four baggage conveyors and three aerobridges.
Passenger facilities at the terminal include a reserved lounge, car rentals, money exchange, food and beverage outlets, and a retail area.
The cargo terminal at the airport enables the export of large quantities of perishable goods, including food. It will be equipped with a cold storage facility for perishable goods to encourage exports from the region.
Online booking of goods, customs air cargo operation and electronic data interchange (EDI) services has also been rolled out at the airport. The EDI facilitates quick processing of export and import bills, avoiding manual intervention.
Runway and airside facilities
Madurai Airport features a 7,500ft-long concrete runway, which is accompanied by six aprons, two parallel taxiways, and a fuel storage facility for diesel and aviation fuel.
The airport also has seven aircraft parking lots and a Cat-I instrument landing system (ILS).
Parking at Madurai Airport
A parking facility with designated spaces for private vehicles, motorcycles and buses is located outside the terminal building. The parking lot outside the airport can accommodate approximately 375 cars and ten buses.
Contractors involved
Behal Joshi and Associates was awarded the contract to provide architectural design for the integrated passenger terminal building of the airport. Vishal Infrastructure secured the contract for the construction of the building.
KB Contract supplied substation equipment including three 1,500kVA-33kV/.433 transformers, 33kV SF6 breakers, and diesel generator (DG) sets.
The DG sets included three 750kVA DG sets with automatic mains failure (AMF) panels, LT panels, automatic power factor control (APFC) panels, as well as a high-tension / low-tension cables tray, sandwich-type bus trunking and a 30,000l underground diesel tank with fuel handling system.
