Flight services from Puducherry airport that were suspended after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic early last year, will resume by the end of this month.
Budget airliner, SpiceJet, commenced operations to Hyderabad in 2017, under the Centre’s Regional Connectivity Scheme UDAN, and in the subsequent year, the operator launched daily flights to Bengaluru. Both the services were suspended after novel coronavirus hit the country.
“We have been told that the service provider in all likelihood will resume their operations from here by end of this month. Our government has been in touch with the SpiceJet management for the last two to three months,” Minister for Public Works, K. Lakshminarayanan, told The Hindu.
Mr Lakshminarayanan, who also holds the Civil Aviation and Tourism portfolios, said he had apprised the Civil Aviation Ministry on the need to provide the UT with more air connectivity. In particular, the administration was keen on launching air services from the UT to New Delhi, Kannur and Kozhikode in Kerala, he added.
The government had also informed the Civil Aviation Ministry its interest to continue under the Centre’s scheme for a few more years.
As for runway expansion, the Minister said the Villupuram District Administration has started a field survey near the airport area to acquire 106 acres of land on the Tamil Nadu side. “For the expansion of the runway, land needs to be acquired on the TN side. They have already started identification of land,” he added.
