Chennai · MAA · T1 · T2 · T4
A private car from Chennai airport (MAA) to the city, the OMR IT corridor, Mahabalipuram or Pondicherry, with a named chauffeur, your flight tracked and a full quote before you pay.
Nothing is charged until you accept the quote.
At a glance
International flights into Chennai arrive at T2 and domestic ones at T1 or T4, and the metro that leaves from the airport stops for the night at about 11pm. We arrange a private car and a named chauffeur for the drive from Chennai International to wherever you are staying, whether in the city, along the OMR IT corridor or down the coast at Mahabalipuram or Pondicherry. Your flight is tracked, your chauffeur waits half an hour from its actual arrival time, and the full quote, with any late-night or short-notice charges in it, reaches you before you pay.
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Chennai’s terminals have a metro station and a suburban railway station within a short walk, and a covered walkway with lifts and escalators joins all three terminals to the metro. Which way out suits you depends on when you land, how much you carry and where you are staying.
| Option | Where you board | Hours and limits | When it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chennai Metro, Blue Line | Chennai International Airport station, reached on foot from T1, T2 and T4 along the covered walkway. | Trains run from about 5am to 11pm. The line goes without a change to Guindy, Teynampet, Thousand Lights and Chennai Central; change at Alandur for the Green Line towards Vadapalani, Koyambedu and Anna Nagar. | A solo traveller or a couple carrying little, staying close to a station, before late evening. |
| Suburban train | Tirusulam station, across GST Road and linked to the metro station. | Local trains on the line between Chennai Beach and Chengalpattu, running north through Guindy and Egmore and south through Tambaram. | A short hop along the line, with little luggage. |
| App cab or taxi | At T1, a pick-up plaza about 30 m from the terminal, opened on 13 September 2026. Cabs for T2 and T4 were reported to keep using the West multi-level car park, which is nearer those two terminals. | Booked once you land. Opening-day reports name app cabs such as Ola, Uber and Rapido, and some taxi firms, among the plaza’s first users, with more operators to be admitted later, so go to the pickup point your app or the airport staff show you. | A short ride, when you are happy to arrange the car on arrival. |
| Pre-booked private transfer | Outside the terminal, at the point the booking desk gives you, or with a name board in arrivals if you add Meet and greet. | Booked ahead for your flight’s time, day or night, and timed to the flight as it is tracked, with any late-night charge already in the quote. | A late-night landing, a family with luggage, or a run out to OMR, the coast road, Mahabalipuram, Pondicherry, Vellore or Tirupati. |
The airport has moved its cab pick-up twice since July 2024, first to the West multi-level car park and then, for cabs at T1, to the new plaza, so follow the signs and the airport staff on the day. Metro hours are as Chennai Metro published them in 2026.
Price
Every journey is quoted on its own rather than sold from a price list, so the figure you receive is for your booking. These are the things that move it. Nothing is charged until you accept the quote. Tolls, where they apply, are either included in it or shown in it as an additional charge, and heavy traffic does not change the quoted price.
When you land
Chennai’s three working terminals sit side by side, with the international T2 between the domestic T1 and T4. International arrivals clear immigration and customs in T2; on a domestic flight you go straight from the aircraft to the belts in T1 or T4.
If you hold a foreign passport or an OCI card, fill in India’s e-Arrival card online before you board; the questions further down explain where. On a domestic flight, note whether your boarding pass says T1 or T4, and send that with your flight number.
The FTI-TTP e-gates at Chennai are open only to Indian citizens and OCI cardholders who have enrolled in advance, a free process that records fingerprints and a face image. Everyone else, first-time visitors included, uses the staffed counters, where queues build when several flights arrive close together.
T2 has six baggage reclaim belts, and the screens in the hall show which one carries your flight. Customs comes after the belts, then the exit. If your bags are slow to appear, message the booking desk, which is open 24 hours a day, so your chauffeur hears about it.
Before pickup you receive your chauffeur’s name and contact details, on WhatsApp or by email, whichever channel you have been using with us. Without Meet and greet you meet outside the terminal, at the spot the booking desk gives you; with it, a name board waits in arrivals, and every First Class booking includes it. Keep your phone switched on, because failing to reach the meeting point within the waiting time while also being unreachable counts as a no-show.
GST Road, part of NH 32, runs right past the terminals. Northbound, it reaches Kathipara Junction at Guindy within about 6 km and carries on as Anna Salai, the old Mount Road, into the centre. Southbound, it runs through Pallavaram, Chromepet and Tambaram towards Chengalpattu, and for OMR the Radial Road from Pallavaram crosses east to Thoraipakkam. Slow traffic on any of these roads does not change the quoted price.
Chennai’s layout is still changing: cab pick-up at T1 moved in September 2026, and the second phase of the integrated terminal is due in 2027. The Airports Authority’s own Chennai page still uses the older names, Kamaraj for the domestic side and Anna for the international. Check the terminal on your ticket again shortly before you fly, and tell us straight away if the airline switches you from T1 to T4 or the other way round.
Chennai, the coast and beyond
Road distances from the terminals, measured with OpenStreetMap routing on 1 October 2026. They are approximate, and the time each takes depends on the hour, on GST Road traffic and, from October to December, on the rain. Trips that start at the terminal are booked as arrivals, while long runs to Pondicherry, Tirupati or Vellore are quoted as one point-to-point transfer.
T. Nagar is about 12 km by road, Egmore about 17 to 19 km and Chennai Central about 18 to 20 km, all north-east of the airport through Guindy. The Blue Line reaches Central without a change, which suits a light traveller by day; with bags, children or a late flight, a car to the door is simpler.
Rajiv Gandhi Salai, still known as OMR from its old name, the Old Mahabalipuram Road, runs about 45 km from Madhya Kailash past TIDEL Park, Sholinganallur and the SIPCOT IT Park at Siruseri to the coast road near Mahabalipuram. From the airport, TIDEL Park is about 13 km, Sholinganallur about 18 to 23 km and Siruseri about 26 to 32 km. Companies with staff or visitors on regular runs can open a corporate account, with corporate account billing and standing bookings.
The East Coast Road leaves the city at Thiruvanmiyur, about 14 km from the airport, and follows the shore past Neelankarai, Injambakkam and Uthandi, where its toll section begins, to Muttukadu, about 33 km out, and Kovalam, also spelt Covelong. Resorts and beach houses line long stretches of it on the way south.
About 52 to 57 km south, by the coast road or by OMR. Its 7th and 8th century Pallava monuments, among them the Shore Temple, Arjuna’s Penance and the Pancha Rathas, have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984. If you want the car to stay with you while you look round, book the hourly chauffeur service, two hours at least; an hourly car taken outside the city it was booked in carries an additional charge.
About 142 km by OMR and the coast road through Mahabalipuram, or about 150 km inland by GST Road and NH 32 through Chengalpattu and Tindivanam. Pondicherry, officially Puducherry, is the capital of a union territory, separate from Tamil Nadu. A run this long, from the terminal or from a hotel in Chennai, is quoted as one point-to-point transfer on its route and destination; if the pickup is at the airport, send your flight number as well.
South of the airport, GST Road passes Pallavaram and Chromepet on its way to Tambaram, about 11 km away, then Vandalur and Chengalpattu. These are the shortest runs from the terminals, and the suburban railway runs alongside the same road, so with light bags the train from Tirusulam is an option too.
Tirupati, across the state border in Andhra Pradesh, is about 147 to 149 km north-west of the terminals by road, and the Sri Venkateswara Temple at Tirumala, up in the hills above the city, about 171 km. Say whether you are going to an address in the town or to the hilltop, because the extra climb changes the distance, and the whole journey from the airport is priced as one point-to-point run.
Vellore lies west of Chennai on NH 48, the highway to Bengaluru. The Christian Medical College hospital, on Ida Scudder Road in the town centre, and the VIT campus near Katpadi are each about 125 to 126 km from the terminals. Send the exact building or gate rather than the name of the town, together with your flight number, and the drive is quoted as a single point-to-point transfer.
MAA
Run by the Airports Authority of India, the airport lies on GST Road at Tirusulam, south-west of the city centre and about 18 to 20 km by road from Chennai Central. The airport reported 23.02 million passengers for the 2025–26 financial year. Its original passenger terminal at Meenambakkam now houses the cargo complex. The passenger terminals have their own station on the Blue Line metro and, across GST Road, Tirusulam station on the suburban railway.
Terminals Three passenger terminals in use: T2 for every international flight, and T1 and T4 for domestic flights, with T2 standing between the two domestic buildings. A second phase of the integrated terminal, reported as T3, was still under construction in September 2026. Your quote request needs the flight number, and the terminal shown on the ticket helps us place the pickup.
Get an MAA quoteServices
From the airport to your hotel, home or office. Your flight is tracked and the 30-minute wait runs from its actual arrival time.
From your address to the airport, booked ahead with a named chauffeur.
Between terminals, for a connection that leaves from a different one.
A car and chauffeur for a block of hours, starting or ending at the airport.
Between any two addresses, with no airport involved.
How it works
Your flight, pickup and drop-off, passengers and bags, using the form below.
Usually within two hours, with any late-night, public holiday or short-notice charges shown. Nothing is charged until you accept it.
By secure payment link or bank transfer. Card details never reach this website.
Confirmed once paid, and the booking desk shares your voucher.
Questions
T2, if your flight comes from outside India, because all international flights use it. Domestic flights use T1 or T4 depending on the airline, and a 2025 report had some IndiGo departures moving to T4 while their arrivals stayed at T1, so check each leg. Put the terminal from your boarding pass in the request form, and let the booking desk know if the airline changes it later.
You can walk. The terminals stand in a row with the international T2 in the middle, an elevated, covered walkway with escalators and lifts links T1, T2 and T4, and battery buggies run between them as well. Whether your bags are checked through to the domestic flight depends on your ticket and airline, so ask the airline before you travel; on separate tickets you collect them in T2 and check in again at T1 or T4. If you would rather be driven round with your bags, book a terminal to terminal transfer and add your onward flight to the request so the pickup can be timed around it.
About 18 to 20 km by road to Chennai Central, about 17 to 19 km to Egmore station and about 12 km to T. Nagar, heading north-east through Guindy. Road time swings a great deal with the hour, so for a departure we count back from your check-in cut-off, allowing for traffic and for the drop-off at your terminal.
Yes, during the day. The airport has its own Blue Line station, a covered walk from each terminal, with direct trains to Guindy, Teynampet and Chennai Central. Chennai Metro runs from about 5am to 11pm, so it is no help after a late arrival. It works well for a light traveller heading to an address close to a station; for a family, heavy cases or somewhere off the metro map, a pre-booked car is the easier choice.
For app cabs and taxis at T1, it is the pick-up plaza about 30 m in front of the terminal, opened on 13 September 2026. Reports at the opening said cabs serving T2 and T4 would go on collecting passengers from the West multi-level car park, the one closer to those two terminals, and battery buggies keep running between the terminals and the car parks. Private cars are treated differently: in July 2024 the Airports Authority said they could still pick up at the terminal kerb or from any of the multi-level car parks. With a pre-booked transfer, the booking desk tells you where your chauffeur will be, and with Meet and greet a name board is held up for you in arrivals.
Your chauffeur still waits half an hour, and that half hour starts when your flight actually arrives rather than at the time printed on your ticket. If the T2 queue or the belts are crawling, send the booking desk a WhatsApp message. Waiting past the included time may be charged, and you are told about any such charge before it is applied.
By road, about 52 to 57 km south, either along OMR or by the East Coast Road through the beach suburbs. Book an arrival transfer straight from the terminal to your hotel; any toll on the coast road is included in the quote or listed in it as an additional charge. If you want to stop somewhere on the way, add an extra stop when you book.
Roughly 142 to 150 km, depending on whether you go down the coast through Mahabalipuram or inland through Tindivanam. Yes, as a private car with a chauffeur, priced as one point-to-point transfer on the route and the destination. Give us your flight number, the exact address in Pondicherry and the number of bags; for a run this long with luggage, an SUV or a van, in any class, leaves more room.
If you travel on a foreign passport or an OCI card, plan on filling one in. The Bureau of Immigration says foreigners and OCI cardholders can submit the e-Arrival card online within the 72 hours before arrival, at boi.gov.in, at indianvisaonline.gov.in or in the Indian Visa Su-Swagatam app, and immigration advisers report that the paper arrival card was withdrawn on 1 April 2026. The Bureau’s notice is addressed to foreigners and OCI cardholders, not to travellers on Indian passports. It describes the card as arrival information, not a visa, so check the official visa pages for your own case before you fly.
It can, and Chennai’s wet season comes later than in most of India. October to December brings the northeast monsoon, which the India Meteorological Department says delivers about 48 per cent of Tamil Nadu’s yearly rain, and a cyclone can shut the airport itself: during Cyclone Michaung the airfield closed to flights on 4 December 2023, and flights resumed the next day. Between October and December, leave more time than usual for a drive to a departure, and if your airline cancels your flight or moves it to another day, tell the desk at once, because that is generally treated as a no-show under the service terms.
Waiting time, changes, cancellations and refunds are set out in full in our Terms & Conditions.
Request a transfer
Under five minutes to complete. We come back with a full quote, usually within two hours. Nothing is charged until you accept the quote.
