Amid tremendous demand for introduction of overseas flight services to key West Asian destinations from here, the Tiruchi airport authorities have requested two private carriers to explore the possibility of operating services in that sector.
In addition to exploring the possibility of operating flights to select West Asian destinations, the airport authorities have appealed to the two airlines — IndiGo and SpiceJet — to operate flights in the domestic Tiruchi-Mumbai-Tiruchi sector as well.
The airport authorities conveyed their interest in this regard through separate letters forwarded to IndiGo and SpiceJet.
The request has been made at a time when there is a heavy demand for operation of international flights to connect more West Asian countries from Tiruchi as well as to augment domestic connectivity.
At present, Air India Express is the lone overseas carrier operating a daily service to Dubai in the West Asian region.
Although flight services were operated to Sharjah, Kuwait, and Abu Dhabi from Tiruchi a few years ago, they were all withdrawn one after the other for different reasons.
Lack of direct flight connectivity to West Asian destinations necessitates the huge chunk of workforce from the central districts employed in countries in that region to travel either via Colombo or from the Chennai international airport.
Airport sources said IndiGo and SpiceJet have been specifically requested to explore the possibility of operating flights from Tiruchi to Sharjah, Muscat, Kuwait, and Colombo besides launching a service in the Tiruchi–Mumbai– Tiruchi sector.
The authorities have given an overview of the Tiruchi airport and the facilities to cater to the needs of international passengers.
The steady increase in passenger traffic, the number of overseas carriers currently in operation and the future plans of the airport such as the construction of a new international terminal complex have been put across in the communication sent to the two airlines.
The authorities have requested the two airlines to establish their base at the Tiruchi airport with an assurance to provide all facilities for them.
