Two-wheelers banned from entering into Chennai airport; irks commuters

CHENNAI: The Airport staff and people who visit to send off their friends and family are put to suffer as bikes are not being allowed inside the city airport.

On Tuesday morning, the staff who are in charge of the parking area in the Chennai airport stopped all the two-wheelers from entering the airport and reportedly said that two-wheelers are not allowed hereafter in the airport.

However, while there was no official statement regarding the new rule by the AAI, the parking staff were rude to the passengers and other employees who visited the airport on their bikes.

They said that bikes should be parked on the Metro rail parking lot or asked to park near the airport administration office.

Only the AAI staff, police, and CISF are allowed to park their bikes in the MLCP (Multi Level Car Parking). This made the contract labourers and other passengers who visited the airport pick up or send off their friends and relatives on their bikes much discomfort.

The Metro rail parking in the Chennai airport will be mostly houseful during the peak hours and at times even the MLCP is becoming houseful.

The people said that being an international airport is not fair to stop the two-wheelers from entering the airport. They said that even the staff were behaving like police officers and rudely treating the motorists.

Eight years ago auto rickshaws were not allowed to enter the airport premises and that affected most of the middle-class people. Now as two-wheelers are also not allowed in the airport people areunhappy with the management of the Chennai airport. They also said that it feels like the entire airport is under the control of the MLCP contractors.

Airport official sources said that the main reason for not allowing two-wheelers inside the airport is because they are not following the traffic rules properly. Due to the two-wheelers accidents being reported in the airport premises and so they have decided not to allow the bikes.

Currently, it is on a trial basis, and soon an official announcement will be made.