The territorial administration is hopeful of operationalising the defunct airport here by January next year, Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy said here on Monday.
Addressing a press conference here, he said following the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Government of Puducherry and the Union Government, the Ministry of Civil Aviation had revived projects to operationalise the airport by next month.
The Ministry had come to the conclusion that a 70-seat aircraft operating from the airport here to Bengaluru could get full occupancy if routed through Tiruchi. Along with Puducherry-Bengaluru sector, the Ministry was considering operating flights from here to Tirupati, Coimbatore, Kochi, and Hyderabad, he said.
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The Ministry had floated tenders inviting private players to operate flights from here, he said.
“I have requested the Ministry to consider operating Air India flights from here along with private players. We are hopeful of commencing the air operations by January next year,” he said.
It might be recalled that an MoU was signed between Union Territory and Civil Aviation Ministry in October under the Regional Connectivity Scheme. Under the scheme, the airfare had been pegged at an affordable Rs. 2,500 for flying within 500-km radius.
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Mr. Narayanasamy said his government was willing to pay the subsidy amount to Alliance Air, the budget operator of Air India, for its brief operations from here to Bengaluru.
The company had launched services using a 48-seat ATR 42-320 in the Puducherry-Bengaluru sector on all days of the week except Wednesdays. However, it stopped its services in October last year following a dispute over subsidy claim and since then the Government had been negotiating with some airlines and helicopter operators to resume air connectivity.
Once Tamil Nadu acquired land on its side and handed it over, the territorial administration would take up expansion of the runway, he said.