Chennai, Feb 12 (IANS): The Chennai Airport terminal complex has 13 aerobridges, and one additional aerobridge for wide bodied long haul aircraft is under construction and will be operational by March 2024, said the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Refuting news reports that Chennai may not get many long-haul widebody international flights for lack of aerobridges and other issues, the Ministry said out of the 13 aerobridges, five can cater to the Code E or wide bodied long haul flights.

Once the second phase of T2 is completed in 2025, additional three Code E capable aerobridge will be available soon.

So, after 2025, nine aerobridges will be available for Code E aircrafts for International Operations in swing mode.

According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, aircraft A380 mentioned in the news stories is the flagship of Code-F type of aircraft whose production has been stopped since 2021.

"The new generation wide-bodied long-haul aircraft A350 and B777 which are being operated and which are being ordered by airlines for future are Code-E type of aircraft, and Chennai Airport can handle them," the Ministry said.