The Airports Authority of India has walked back an assurance to build a 10.5-metre-wide approach road as part of the Coimbatore airport expansion, according to farmers whose land the project requires.

The dispute centres on land acquisition for the expansion of Coimbatore International Airport in Tamil Nadu. Farmers who own property in the acquisition zone say AAI had earlier committed, in writing, to constructing an approach road of 10.5 metres width to serve affected landholders. They now say the authority has reversed that position.

The reversal matters because the road commitment formed part of the basis on which farmers were asked to hand over land. Withdrawing it narrows the gap between what affected landowners believed they had been promised and what the project will actually deliver, and it risks further delaying an acquisition process that determines the expansion timeline.

Coimbatore's expansion has been framed by state and central authorities as essential capacity work for one of Tamil Nadu's significant secondary aviation markets. Land acquisition is the gating item: until it concludes, no construction schedule for the extended runway or upgraded terminal can be treated as firm.

AAI has not publicly detailed, in the reporting available, an alternative configuration for access roads or compensation for the withdrawn commitment. Farmers say they were given the 10.5-metre assurance and that AAI has now backtracked on it.

The standoff leaves the project's schedule dependent on resolving a trust deficit between the airport operator and the landholders whose property the expansion requires.