Industries in the western districts of the State have sought air connectivity under the Vande Bharath Mission to Coimbatore, in September.
In a memorandum to the Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Hardeep Singh Puri, president of Kongu Global Forum and its vice president -- A. Sakthivel and Vanitha Mohan -- said the Coimbatore International Airport had flights landing during the last three months under the Mission. However, Coimbatore was not included in the September schedule and also under the hub-and-spoke connectivity project.
Air India Express connected several cities with Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah this month in the Vande Bharath Mission. According to information available, Abu Dhabi was connected to 16 Indian cities, Dubai to 18 cities, and Sharjah with 10 cities.
Coimbatore International Airport has adequate infrastructure to handle these flights and it was included as one of the cities in the previous three months, they said. “It is disheartening to note that except Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam all the International airports in South India are included in this programme,” the memorandum said.
In spite of having an international airport in Coimbatore, it was extremely difficult for passengers to reach western Tamil Nadu, especially during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, they said. The Forum appealed to the Minister to look into the issue and include Coimbatore under the Vande Bharath Mission for this month.
