Tamil Nadu Shortlists Cheyyur and Manellore for Chennai’s Second Airport, AAI to Assess Feasibility

September 10, 2026

The Tamil Nadu government has shortlisted two alternative locations for Chennai’s second airport: Cheyyur in Chengalpattu district and Manellore near Gummidipoondi in Tiruvallur district. The state has asked the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to conduct pre-feasibility studies for both locations before a final site is selected. The development follows the Tamil Nadu government's decision to abandon the long-pursued Parandur greenfield airport project after concerns over agricultural land, water bodies, and rural livelihoods.

However, the shortlisting of Cheyyur and Manellore does not mean either site has been selected. Both remain candidate locations that must undergo technical assessment, and no land acquisition, environmental clearance, or construction has begun at either site. A final decision on the location of Chennai’s second airport is expected only after AAI completes its assessment and submits its recommendations.

Which Two Sites Has Tamil Nadu Shortlisted, and Where Are They Located?

Cheyyur sits in Chengalpattu district, roughly 100 km from the existing Chennai International Airport at Meenambakkam, about 40 km from Puducherry airport, and around 35 km from Kalpakkam. Manellore, situated near Gummidipoondi in Tiruvallur district, is closer to the city, roughly 50 to 60 km from Chennai, and sits about 35 km from Sriharikota.

The Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) has already completed an initial round of site inspections at both locations, ahead of the more detailed technical assessment AAI has now been asked to undertake.

Why Was the Parandur Airport Proposal Dropped?

Parandur, in Kanchipuram district, had been selected for Chennai's second airport in 2022 and was envisioned as a large-scale facility reports put the project at an estimated INR 25,000-27,000 crore, spread across more than 5,300 acres, designed to handle up to 100 million passengers a year through multiple terminals and two runways. The project gained further institutional momentum in March 2026 when it was designated a special project under the Tamil Nadu Land Consolidation Act.

However, it faced sustained opposition from farmers in Ekanapuram and neighbouring villages over a period local reporting describes as roughly 1,000 days, centred on the loss of fertile agricultural land and the disruption of water bodies the local community depended on. Speaking in the Assembly, Chief Minister Vijay said the project would be abandoned because it threatened fertile farmland, water bodies, and rural livelihoods.

Tamil Nadu's Energy Resources and Law Minister R. Nirmal Kumar subsequently told the Assembly that the project would have required 5,846 acres in total, including 3,774 acres of private land, of which 2,681 acres were agricultural fields, and roughly 1,558 acres of government land consisting of water bodies and canals, and that only around 48% of the required land had actually been acquired at the time of cancellation, with the project having neither undergone a formal environmental impact assessment nor secured environmental clearance.

This aligns with AAI's own 2022 feasibility assessment of the Parandur site, which had recorded that more than a quarter of the proposed site was covered by irrigation tanks, with a 201-hectare human-made lake located close to the airport boundary.

What is the Current Status of Chennai's Second Airport Project?

Chennai's second airport search is now back at an early evaluation stage, with Cheyyur and Manellore positioned as the two leading candidates following the Parandur cancellation. AAI officials are expected to conduct detailed site inspections at both locations before preparing a pre-feasibility report, which is expected to be submitted within the next few months; the Tamil Nadu government has asked AAI to expedite this process. Only after that report is submitted and reviewed will a final site be selected.

Even once a site is finalised, officials cited in reporting note that the project will still require land approval, environmental clearances, infrastructure development, and detailed construction planning, stages that, even under an accelerated timeline, could mean the airport takes an estimated five to seven years to become operational after all approvals are secured. Chennai's pursuit of a second airport is not new: as far back as 2006, the state had put forward four candidate locations — Tirupporur, Parandur, Pannur, and Padalam, for AAI's consideration, underscoring how long this search has already run before arriving at the current Cheyyur-Manellore shortlist.

What Will AAI Evaluate Before Selecting the Site?

AAI has been asked to examine the technical and operational feasibility of both Cheyyur and Manellore before making a recommendation. For Cheyyur specifically, reports indicate the state may need clearance from the Ministry of Defence, since the surrounding airspace falls under the control of the Indian Air Force station at Tambaram, a regulatory consideration that did not apply in the same way to Parandur.

Manellore's suitability, meanwhile, is described as requiring its own detailed assessment before the site can be considered viable, though the specific nature of that site's challenges has not been detailed in available reporting. Neither site's suitability has been confirmed or ruled out at this stage; that determination is precisely what AAI's pre-feasibility study is intended to establish.

What Factors Determine the Suitability of Land for a Greenfield Airport?

Independent of the specific findings AAI will produce for Cheyyur and Manellore, greenfield airport site selection generally involves assessing several interlocking factors. Land availability and topographical assessment confirm whether a site offers sufficient contiguous, suitably graded land for runways, terminal infrastructure, and future expansion without requiring disproportionate cut-and-fill earthwork.

Airspace assessment examines potential conflicts with existing military or civilian aviation activity in the vicinity, along with the feasibility of safe runway orientation and approach paths given surrounding terrain and obstacles — obstacle limitation surfaces, in aviation terminology, define the airspace around a runway that must remain clear of natural or built obstructions. Environmental assessment evaluates the presence of protected ecosystems, forest land, and other environmentally sensitive features that could constrain development or trigger extended clearance processes.

Water bodies and flood risk are assessed specifically because low-lying sites with extensive tanks, lakes, or canals, as Parandur's own feasibility history illustrates, can create both construction challenges and longer-term drainage and flooding risk once a large, paved facility replaces natural water absorption capacity. And road and surface connectivity assessments examine how effectively a site can be linked to the city's existing transport network, since an airport that is difficult to reach undermines the passenger and cargo growth it is meant to support.

How Do Environmental, Flood-Risk and Airspace Considerations Affect Site Selection?

The Parandur experience is directly instructive here, though it should be read as background context rather than a predictor of how Cheyyur or Manellore will fare. AAI's own 2022 assessment had already flagged extensive water-body coverage at Parandur before the project proceeded, and the eventual cancellation cited exactly those environmental and water-body concerns, alongside the fact that a formal environmental impact assessment and clearance had still not been secured years into the project.

That sequence highlights why environmental, land and technical constraints need to be identified and assessed at an early stage of airport site selection. For Cheyyur, the reported airspace considerations associated with the Tambaram Air Force station will need to be examined as part of AAI's assessment before the site's suitability can be determined. Manellore will likewise require its own assessment of land, airspace, terrain, environmental constraints, connectivity and other site-specific factors before any conclusion is reached on its suitability.

Tamil Nadu has been searching for a second Chennai airport site for roughly two decades, and its most advanced attempt yet was abandoned after running into exactly the environmental and land concerns a rigorous early feasibility study is designed to catch. Whether Cheyyur or Manellore breaks that pattern will depend on how thoroughly AAI's pending assessment addresses land, airspace, and environmental risk before Tamil Nadu commits to either site.

IMARC Engineering’s Perspective

Tamil Nadu's shortlisting of Cheyyur and Manellore, following the cancellation of the Parandur project after years of development and sustained concerns over agricultural land, water bodies, livelihoods and land acquisition, is a reminder of how much weight an early, rigorous feasibility assessment can carry for a greenfield infrastructure project of this scale.

At IMARC Engineering, we see AAI's pending pre-feasibility study as exactly the stage where land suitability, airspace constraints, environmental and flood risk, and connectivity should be assessed comprehensively and transparently before a site is chosen, rather than allowed to surface as unresolved issues years into land acquisition, as occurred at Parandur.

As Tamil Nadu works toward a final decision between Cheyyur and Manellore, and eventually toward the land approval, environmental clearance, and infrastructure planning stages that would follow site selection, the rigour applied at this feasibility stage will be important in identifying land, airspace, environmental, connectivity and infrastructure constraints before Tamil Nadu commits to a final site and advances into subsequent approval and project-development stages.