Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry and exporters from the region would give their consent for starting international cargo operations from Madurai airport without the mandatory cold storage facility, its senior president, S. Rethinavelu, said.
“We will give letters of consent on behalf of the chamber and exporters to the Airport Authorities of India and the Customs Department so that the international cargo operations commenced at the earliest,” he said while speaking at the chamber executive committee meeting here on Wednesday.
Mr. Rethinavelu pointed out that the international cargo operation in Tiruchi airport commenced in a similar fashion without cold storage facility.
“We do not want the cold storage facility initially. We will study the influx of perishable cargo — vegetables and flowers — and then decide on the size of the cold storage facility to be put up at the airport,” he said. Till then the perishables would be transported on a daily basis, he said.
“The Joint Commissioner of Customs have agreed upon this idea of giving our consent for the international cargo facility without cold storage in the initial period when we met him recently,” he said.
The airlines were not coming forward to operate additional flights to international destinations due to lack of cargo facility here, he pointed out.
The Airport Director, V.V. Rao, who spoke at the meeting said that the air traffic, international and domestic, and passenger and cargo had doubled in the country.
In Madurai, international passenger traffic had increased by 32 per cent and domestic by 18 per cent.
Madurai airport would provide weighing machines outside departure hall so that passengers can weigh their luggage before entering the check-in area.
“This will help the passengers to carry the right weight of luggage permitted by the airliners, without having to open the baggage after going through the check-in process,” he said.
“The AAI was ready to operate the airport during night hours, provided there was demand from airliners. Even if we got two night aircraft, we would start regular night operations,” he said.
Earlier, the chamber president, N. Jegatheesan, wanted the AAI to operate late night and early morning departures from Madurai so that passengers could have more domestic and international flight connectivity to different destinations.
