Out of the 633.17 acres required for runway expansion of Madurai airport, the Tamil Nadu government has so far handed over 528.65 acres to the Airport Authority of India, according to Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M. Scindia.
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Responding to a letter from S. Arunachalam, president, Madurai chapter Laghu Udyog Bharathi, the Union Minister has said that the Centre would actively examine any proposal from airlines that intended to fly during nights.
As for commencement of international flights by Indian carriers from any point in the country, it was purely a commercial decision of the scheduled airlines. On the basis of demand, the airport’s flight handling capacity, safety, infrastructure and economic viability of the routes et al are required to be examined.
Under the present circumstances, the Union government does not grant any non-metro airport as a new point of call to any foreign carrier. However, Madurai airport was available as a point of call to designated carriers of Sri Lanka. Likewise, all designated Indian carriers were free to mount operations from Madurai to foreign destinations under the ambit of (Bilateral Air Services Agreement) BASA, Mr. Scindia said.
Though Madurai airport was a customs notified airport and the AAI provided basic infrastructural and passenger amenities for handling international flights, the AAI should ensure that the CISF authorities were present to handle the passengers/flights during nights here, said K. R. Gnanasambandan, state vice president of Laghu Udyog Bharathi.