Budget airline Air Costa, which started operations in Madurai in July, shut down its services to the city on Thursday. The airline had been operating a Madurai – Chennai – Hyderabad – Vijayawada hop-on flight service.
An official spokesperson of the airline said the aircraft being operated from Madurai, was also utilised for the Chennai-Jaipur service. “We had restrictions on using runways and timings at the Chennai and Jaipur airports which meant that flight schedules to Madurai were affected. To prevent delays and cancellations of services, the company has decided to withdraw its service from Madurai and will be concentrating on bettering service in other sectors,” the spokesperson stated.
The airline currently operates four aircraft which connects nine cities in the country with 34 daily flights.
Travel operators in the city said the airline had initially suspended services from September 1 to 4 and then extended it till September 7 after which it was announced that they were shutting down. Refunds were handed out to passengers, who had booked tickets with the airline, at the counter in Madurai airport.
“The budget airline was doing well here. It was attracting quite a number of Chennai-bound passengers. Since it is terminating services citing technical difficulties, we can definitely expect other budget airlines to choose Madurai in the future,” said N. Sriram, of Balika Tours and Travels.
