Airport with a Mission

Coimbatore Airport is an accomplished airport of the city of Coimbatore and is located in the Peelamedu region of the city. In the earlier years it was known as the Peelamedu or Coimbatore Civil Aerodrome and is at a distance of 13 Miles (21 kilometers) from the city center.  The airport had its commencement in the 1940’s in the form of a civil aerodrome with just a few airplanes of the Indian Airlines. From that period for a considerable phase the air services were restricted to the cities of Chennai and Mumbai. However, in the later years services to Cochin and Bangalore were also added.  The airport in the 80s had a thorough transformation when it was closed down for runway expansion so as to enable modern days jets like Boeing 737 and Airbus to operate. The year 1987 is a landmark in the history of this airport since on that year the project of runway exansion was completed and a new terminal started operation.

Nowadays, the airport is served by 10 airlines and 5 more are likely to inititate their operations in the coming years. In the meanwhile, two reputed international airlines SilkAir and SriLankan Airlines started operations to Coimbatore, linking Coimbatore with Singapore and Colombo. The other two international airlines that are operating from here are Air Arabia and Air India-Express. In the airport there is also a runway that is 10,000 feet in length and it is destined that the final expansion will expand it to12,500 ft in length. This will be done to handle wide bodied aircrafts in a better manner.   

There are two hangers in the airport. While one of them provides housing for the planes of Coimbatore Flying Club, the others provides shelter for private carriers. The airport has only one terminal and the other is under construction. 

The airport is on the verge of expansion and projects are being chalked out in this direction. The airort authority is pondering over the construction of a parallel taxiway to reduce the runway occupancy time and turnaround of aircraft. In addition, plans for modernizing the present terminal with all modern facilities are sought after.