Kolkata airport plans major Rs 337 crore apron expansion to handle rising passenger traffic

Project Details

Kolkata airport is starting a Rs 337-crore project to expand its apron area on the southern side of the terminal building. The apron is where airplanes park, load, unload, refuel, and get serviced between flights. This work is scheduled to finish over the next three years and will create more operational space for parking and ground tasks.

Passenger Growth

This project comes as passenger traffic at the airport bounces back to pre-pandemic levels and keeps growing. The airport handled about 1.1 crore passengers in the first half of 2025, which is close to the 2019 number for the same period. For the full year, the airport handled about 2.2 crore passengers. A senior airport official stated that the need to expand airside infrastructure is pressing because passenger numbers are nearing and sometimes crossing pre-pandemic figures.

Terminal Upgrades

To support these rising numbers, the annual passenger-handling capacity of the integrated terminal has gone up from 2.6 crore to 2.8 crore. The airport has also expanded the domestic departure area by 993 square metres and is adding 300 square metres to the international departure section. Furthermore, the international section is getting about 60,000 square feet of extra space in the southern part of the terminal to reorganize immigration, customs, and add food, retail, and passenger amenities.

Runway And Future Plans

Runway handling capacity has increased from 35 to 45 flights every hour after the addition of new taxiways and rapid-exit corridors. Two new taxi tracks also help wide-body aircraft move better on the ground. Looking ahead, the airport has a larger redevelopment plan to lift annual passenger capacity to about 4.5 crore by the years 2032 to 2033. This plan involves tearing down the old domestic terminal to build a new U-shaped international terminal with 21 aerobridges, while also increasing aircraft parking bays from 73 to 132.