International passenger traffic continues to remain robust in the current fiscal at the Tiruchi international airport – a fast growing one in the country.
With more overseas flights being operated than domestic ones, the Tiruchi airport has seen an upswing in the movement of international passengers in the last five months (April – August) as compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
Tiruchi airport where e-tourist visa facility was introduced in mid-August remains way ahead in overseas passengers’ movement than six other non-metro airports where the same facility was launched simultaneously.
According to Airports of Authority of Indila (AAI) statistics, the Tiruchi airport handled 4.74 lakh international passengers from April to August, registering an increase as compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal.
Overseas passengers’ traffic clocked during April – August in 2014-15 was 4.46 lakh.
With 65 overseas flights per week being operated to Colombo, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Dubai by various foreign carriers, Tiruchi is far ahead of certain international airports such as Coimbatore, Mangalore, Guwahati, and Goa in international passenger traffic.
The recent introduction of an overseas flight in the Tiruchi–Penang–Tiruchi sector by the Malindo Air is expected to perk up the international travellers’ figures this year.
Operating direct flights to Kuala Lumpur from Tiruchi and back, Air Asia continues to top the chart followed by other airlines — Tiger Airways, Sri Lankan Airlines, and Malindo Air which have daily services in the Tiruchi–Singapore–Tiruchi, Tiruchi–Colombo–Tiruchi and Tiruchi–Kuala Lumpur–Tiruchi sector respectively.
Airport sources expect international passenger traffic to cross the 12 lakh mark this fiscal given the current robust trend.
The year 2014-15 was a milestone in Tiruchi airport when overseas passenger movement crossed the one million mark for the first time.
Notwithstanding growth in traffic movement, Tiruchi is yet to have direct connectivity to important destinations in West Asia despite heavy demand.
Non-inclusion of Tiruchi as a point of call in the BASA (Bilateral Air Services Agreement) is a reason preventing foreign carriers from introducing services to various destinations in West Asia from Tiruchi, say sources.
The airport clocked 4.74 lakh overseas passengers between August and April this year |
Air Asia, Tiger Airways, Malindo Airlines have daily flight services from Tiruchi |
The overseas passenger traffic crossed the million mark in 2014-15 |
Airport sources expect the figure to cross 12 lakhs in 2015-16 |
There is good demand for operating flights to several destinations in West Asia |
Tiruchi not being a point of call in BASA coming in the way of operating more flights to West Asia |
