The Tamil Nadu government will explore, with officials and experts, the possibility of finding an alternative site for the proposed greenfield airport near Chennai, Minister for Energy Resources and Law R. Nirmalkumar said on Thursday. He said the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam stood firm in opposing the project planned at Parandur.

Speaking to reporters after the Governor’s address to the Assembly, Mr. Nirmalkumar said, “The first field-level protest of our Chief Minister [as the TVK president] began at Parandur. We are firm in that stand. But we are not against development or an airport. Why should waterbodies and cultivable land be destroyed for a development project? We will consider an alternative site for the project, discuss it with the Chief Minister, and then an announcement will be made.”

The Minister’s remarks came against the backdrop of speculation that the TVK government was planning to drop the airport project at Parandur, nearly 70 km from Chennai. On January 20, 2025, Mr. Vijay went to Kancheepuram district and met villagers protesting against the project.

For the Parandur airport, which was announced in 2022 by the DMK government, nearly 1,700 acres of land has already been acquired after the site clearance and the in-principle approval were obtained. At this point, it is not wise to drop the project, industry leaders and air passengers say.

V.N. Shivashankar, senior vice-president of Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI), said the Tamil Nadu government should not scrap the project immediately.

He said, “Chennai needs a good airport. It will be a setback to the State if they decide to drop it after getting most of the approvals. Be it foreign or domestic investors, the first impression they make of a city is through an airport. An airport accelerates the development of a city and also of the State significantly.”

“Airports like Bengaluru and Hyderabad are examples of how much a city grows and gains from having a large airport. We request the government to hold discussions with the industry bodies before taking the final decision since it has a significant bearing on all of us,” he added.

It takes a few years to identify a new site for an airport and at least 3-4 years to complete the construction. An aviation expert said the government looked at several sites before shortlisting the four and zeroing in on Parandur. “It will take a minimum of one year to identify a site and get the Airports Authority of India to do the pre-feasibility study. Then getting the site clearance and the in-principle approval could take another two years. And then, the land acquisition, construction, and making the airport operational can take at least 5-6 years,” he said.

He also pointed out that finding a site for an airport would not be so easy. “Air space availability, wind direction, and the type of obstacles play a huge role in deciding a site. The problems cited in Parandur could come up at other sites too,” he added.

Air passengers, too, feel that dropping Parandur means the wait for the city to have a good airport gets much longer, and they will bear the brunt of it. Vasanthi Kannan, a frequent flyer, said, “Several passengers like me are not at all happy with the present airport because of its maintenance, among other issues. It will be hugely beneficial to the passengers if the airport is built at Parandur, and the privatised airports in the country have already shown that.”