Except for waterbodies, land acquisition for Madurai airport over: Virudhunagar MP

Members of Parliament from southern districts and non-official members of Madurai Airport Advisory Committee would meet the Union Minister for Civil Aviation in December to impress upon making 24x7 operation of Madurai airport.

After chairing the Madurai Airport Advisory Committee meeting here on Tuesday, Virudhunagar MP B. Manickam Tagore said that the Centre had been dragging the issue of round-the-clock operation of Madurai airport for long.

“First it said the runway needs to be ready, then it said that airlines should come forward for night operation and also to augument the strength of CISF personnel at Madurai Airport. The Centre had also notified that Madurai airport would begin 24x7 operation from April 2023, but it was not implemented citing the lack of adequate number of CISF personnel,” he said.

He complained that the Centre was neglecting Madurai.

Only commencement of round-the-clock operation will attract more airlines to fly to Madurai, he added.

He also said that except for 89 acres of land, all land had been acquired for expansion of the airport. “Tamil Nadu Government was working to get environmental clearance for acquiring the waterbodies,” he added. Stating that construction of boundary wall of the airport was under way and is expected to be completed by December 2023, he said once the wall work is completed, the runway extension work can be taken up.

The Centre had rejected the proposal of providing a sub-way for Madurai-Thoothukudi/Tirunelveli Ring Road closer to the airport for extension of the runway. “The sub-way work would incur an exorbitant cost of ₹ 600 crore and hence, the Centre had proposed to divert the Ring Road,” he added.

Madurai MP Su. Venkatesan said that Air India Express would increase the frequency of the Madurai-Singapore thrice-a-week flight service to daily service from October 22. He wondered how the Centre allowed to construct sub-way for extension of runway of Varanasi Airport while rejecting a similar design for Madurai airport.

President of Agrofood Chamber of Commerce & Industry S. Rethinavelu stressed the importance of making Madurai airport as a point of call in the bilateral airport services agreement to enable international operation of flight services with neighbouring countries.

Madurai Airport Director P. Muthukumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South), A. Pradeep, airport officials and representatives of airlines participated in the meeting.