Simple calculate, for those of you who are curious about this – IATA norms are 300 parking slots for every one million passengers per annum (mpa). Initially during the boom time AAI estimated that there would be about 23 mpa in a few years. I guess they may have lowered their estimates. Anyway, Chennai Airport will need a lot of parking slots to accommodate existing and future traffic.

Very happy to see that AAI has invited bids for building parking structures on a PPP model. This will also help bring professional operations to traffic management at the airport since the operator will lose money if passengers park their vehicles anywhere and everywhere, as we the passengers do now. Mostly because we don’t have much of a choice. Check out.

Multi-level car parking at airport to be outsourced

Airport-to-get-more-parking-stands

The process took a few iterations as expected. The diagram of the current layout of the parking lot was converted into CAD diagrams. The team walked around the lot to make observations and identify solutions. We also took notes from our discussions with AAI officials. Each department had its own considerations. For example, the civil department which is in charge of the construction of pillars, etc. for the new terminals needed space for assembling huge pillars, parking of heavy equipments, etc. Also, they wanted to make sure these equipments and construction areas do not interfere with passenger movements in order to ensure passenger safety.

The operations team of AAI needed to ensure that the passenger comfort and ease of movement in and out of the airport and its terminals were not compromised. Also, we need to make sure that the parking facilities available currently is not overly compromised by reducing parking space and increasing the difficulty of navigating the lots.

There were other considerations. Occasionally buses arrive to pick up and drop off tourists and passengers in groups. Ensuring space for these large vehicles, away from the terminal entrance, was important.

Taxis and their parking was another major issue to be considered. Their circulation pattern and its improvement could in turn improve the overall efficiency of the parking lot.

Further, there are pedestrians and their safety and comfort to consider. These are usually people who use the subway that connect the airport to the railway station on the national highway. Also, airline passengers who arrive from nearby towns in buses and who get down on the highway.

One interesting aspect of the final design, among many, is that it is expected to by dynamic. That is, as the construction sites move from the domestic to the international terminal side, the design is expected to be redone and re-implemented. Since we have gained considerable experience from the initial phase, the successive phases are expected to be easier and quicker.