Madurai airport will be hit hard by the Civil Aviation Ministry’s new proposal not to allow any new domestic airline to operate on international routes which are less than six hours of journey duration from Indian cities.
This would prove detrimental to the State government’s Madurai-Tuticorin industrial corridor proposal, senior president of Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry S. Rethinavelu said.
Civil Aviation Ministry allows only a domestic airline with five years of domestic operations and possessing 20 aircraft to fly to foreign destinations.
At present, only Air India, Spice Jet, Jet Airways and Indigo satisfy this condition known as Rule 5/20.
While Air India is facing aircraft shortage, other players were not interested to operate flights from Madurai to destinations like Singapore, Malaysia, and Gulf countries, Mr. Rethinavelu said. The Union government’s earlier proposal to relax Rule 5/20 was heartening as newer domestic airliners could fly from Madurai to meet its international flight potential.
“We were in touch with airliners like Air Asia India, Vistara and Go Air, insisting them to operate international flights out of Madurai to cater to its untapped potential. In fact, Air Asia India and Vistara had evinced interest in our proposals,” Mr. Rethinavelu said.
The latest proposal of not allowing any new domestic player to operate on international routes of less than six hours journey from Indian cities will really shatter the dreams of providing more international air link to newer destinations.
“Since the journey time to all our potential destinations is less than six hours, the new domestic airliners will not be eligible to operate flights from Madurai to these international destinations,” he said.
“If the Make-in-India campaign of Modi government and the industrial corridor promoted by the State government have to take shape and help the economically and industrially backward southern districts, Madurai airport should have more international connectivity,” he said.
Otherwise, it would be difficult to attract foreign investments, he opined.
“If we want foreign investors, we need to give them better international air link. This will also affect employment generation, tourism and health sector of southern districts,” Mr. Rethinavelu said.
The chamber appealed to the State government to insist on the Centre to include Madurai airport in the bi-lateral airport treaties that would enable at least foreign airliners to operate their flights to Madurai.
