Chennai International Airport is situated 7 km south of Chennai. The airport has bagged the honour of being the largest international gateway into the country and the third busiest airport in India after Mumbai and Delhi. It is considered as the main air hub of south India. In 2005, Chennai International Airport handled just under 10 million passengers and served more than 50 different airlines. It also operates as an important cargo terminus for India.

Chennai International Airport is considered one of the first airports in India. During 1954, the Chennai airport was the final destination of Air India`s first flight from Bombay via Belgaum. The first passenger terminal was built in the northeastern side of the airfield. The Chennai International Airport has three terminals. The old terminal is used for cargo, situated at Meenambakkam. The new passenger terminal complex was built near Pallavaram in order to serve passenger operations. The passenger terminal complex where the domestic and international terminals are situated, are interconnected by a link building. The link building houses administrative offices and a restaurant. With the Kamaraj and Anna terminals added in 1988 to the pre-existing Meenambakkam terminal, the whole complex became one continuous structure and it was built incrementally.

The International terminal was the first part to be built with two aerobridges (jetways). This was followed by the domestic terminal along with three aerobridges. The old terminal at Meenambakkam was used solely for cargo after the completion of the domestic terminal. By adding a new block recently, the International terminal was expanded further south which includes three aerobridges. The airport has also fetched the honour of being the first ISO 9001:2000 certified airport in the country. This honour was handed over to to them in 2001.

The Kamaraj Domestic Terminal (KDT) is used for domestic purposes in the Chennai International Airport. From this terminal, airlines that operate are, Air India--Air India Regional operated by Alliance Air (Bangalore, Bhubhaneshwar, Delhi, Kolkata, Raipur, Vizag); Indian Airlines (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calicut, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Madurai, Mumbai, Port Blair, Trichy, Trivandrum, Vizag), Air Deccan ( Agartala, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Madurai, Mumbai, Port Blair, Pune, Rajamundry, Trichy, Trivandrum, Tuticorin, Vijaywada, Vizag); Go Air (Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad); IndiGo (Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore); Jet Airways (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Madurai, Port Blair, Pune, Trivandrum); JetLite (formerly Air Sahara) (Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Delhi, Mumbai); Kingfisher Airlines (Bangalore, Delhi, Kochi, PortBlair, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Vizag, Hyderabad); Paramount Airways (Bangalore, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Vizag, Kochi, Madurai, Thiruvananthapuram); SpiceJet (Ahmedabad, Bagdogra, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Port Blair).

International flights operate from the Anna International Terminal (AIT). Airlines operating from AIT are-- Air Arabia (Sharjah); Air France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle); Air India (Dammam, Mumbai, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait); Air India Express (Singapore, Trichy, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Colombo); Indian Airlines (Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Colombo, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, Muscat, Sharjah, Singapore); Air Mauritius (Port Louis); British Airways (London-Heathrow); Gulf Air (Bahrain); Jet Airways (Brussels, Colombo, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Toronto-Pearson); JetLite (Colombo); Kuwait Airways (Kuwait); Lufthansa (Frankfurt); Malaysia Airlines (Kuala Lumpur); Oman Air (Muscat); Qatar Airways (Doha); Saudi Arabian Airlines (Damman, Jeddah, Riyadh); Singapore Airlines (Singapore); SriLankan Airlines (Colombo); Thai Airways International (Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Dubai); Tiger Airways (Singapore).

Air India Cargo; Alitalia; Atlas Air; Blue Dart Aviation; British Airways World Cargo; Cargolux; Cathay Pacific Airways Cargo (Hong Kong); Emirates SkyCargo; Etihad Crystal Cargo; Great Wall Airlines (China); Korean Air; Lufthansa Cargo; Polar Air Cargo; Qatar Airways Cargo; Singapore Airlines Cargo are the cargo airlines operating from the Chennai International Airport.

According to an estimation, the Chennai International Airport handles 25 aircraft movements per hour. Other terminals, like Anna International Terminal had handled 2.8 Million passengers; Kamaraj Domestic Terminal handled 5.9 million passengers in the year 2006-2007. The Chennai International Airport at Meenambakkam has propounded plans for modernisation and expansion. The Airports Authority of India has taken over the project. The project also involves construction of a parallel runway, taxiways, aprons and new passenger handling buildings. For this expansion work AAI will also need land in nearby areas. The expansion of the existing airport would be constructed at Manapakkam, Kolapakkam, Kerugambakkam and Tharapakkam in Sriperumbudur taluk. The project will cost around Rs 2,350 crore, of which the cost of construction of the runway, taxiway and apron would be around Rs 1,100 crore, while the cost of construction of the terminal building, cargo building, car park and face uplift would be Rs 1,250 crore.

The Chennai International Airport is located on the busy Chennai - Trichy National Highway (a.k.a. Grand Southern Trunk or GST Road). The airport also caters to the Airport station (Tirusulam) on the Suburban railway network. The Metro Rail System (Chennai Metro) is also proposed to take place and it is said to connect the Airport with other important places in Chennai. Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi has proposed the setting up of a new Greenfield Airport at Sriperumbudur and Tiruvallur taluks. This project will be excluding the expansion of the existing airport at Meenambakkam. The greenfield airport would come up on 4,820.66 acres (19.5 km²) of land. Initial work of the Greenfield Airport was previously intrusted to the Airports Authority of India (AAI). But it will be formulated under a public-private partnership. Four runways have been planned to be incorporated in the airport.