To meet the standards of all the international airports in the country, Chennai’s domestic terminals will go silent from Monday. The passengers now travelling from Chennai airport will need to depend on the sign facilities and the SMSs which airline send them.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) has made the airport silent. This step has been taken to reduce noise pollution at the airport, therefore there will be no boarding calls at the domestic terminal. Airports in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and a few smaller airports in the country already follow the  same system. which curbs noise pollution.  

As per the report published in the Times of India, a senior AAI official said the authority took the decision on suggestions from passengers, many of whom said they were uncomfortable with the noise made by airline announcements about boarding gates and calls for boarding during peak hours. "We consulted airlines and other agencies who work at the airport [before deciding] to do away with boarding announcements," he said.

 A statement that the airport issued said airlines will "notify [passengers about] any changes in boarding time, baggage delivery belts and other information through SMS". However, airlines will make limited announcements in case there is a change of boarding gates.

AAI staff and airline staff will now have to work with perfect coordination so airport officials assign check-in counters, boarding gates and baggage delivery belts well in advance. This will help the authorities to send in the messages on time to the passengers.

Sources informed that few airlines were hesitant to do away with announcements while few were  already doing the same. IndiGo airlines has been doing this on its own because it is particular to maintain good timings.