MADURAI: For the infrastructure to be developed in the Madurai airport and southern districts of Tamil Nadu, a detailed memorandum was submitted to Mr.V.K.Singh, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Road Transport and Highways, in the Madurai airport July 7th 2022, by the Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry led by its president Mr.N.Jegatheesan. Among those present include BJP Madurai City unit district president Dr.P.Saravanan and TN Chamber EC member Mr.V.Senthilkumar.
WHAT MADURAI WANTS?
- Airport Runway expansion work at Madurai Airport to be expedited :
The scheme for expansion of the runway at Madurai Airport from the present 7500 feet to 12000 feet in stages as approved by Airport Authority of India should be expedited. 615 acres of land acquisition by Taminadu Govt for expansion of the runway upto 12,000 feet is fully completed and the lands were handed over to the AAI. We learnt that the Boomi poojafor the Runway expansion work has now been commenced and the work is going on. We
request your goodself Sir, that the terminal work expansion as well as the runway expansion work at Madurai airport should be speeded up. - Madurai Airport should be included as a “Point of Call” in Bilateral Air Services
Agreement (BASA) with other countries: Madurai, the second largest city in Tamilnadu is the gateway for the fourteen south & south Central districts. The region which is replete with a number of famous tourist attractions
including the world renowned Shri Meenakshi Amman Temple and Thirumalai Naick Mahal in Madurai, the imposing Vivekananda Rock Memorial at Kanyakumari, the salubrious hill station Kodaikanal, the highly venerable Ramanatha Swamy Temple and Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Memorial at Rameswaram attract lakhs and lakhs of tourists both foreign and
domestic throughout the year. Presence of substantial segment of Tamil Speaking People and Workers originating from the southern districts of Tamilnadu in Malaysia, Singapore and Gulf countries significantly contribute for in-bound and out-bound traffic between Madurai and such foreign destinations.
With a number of highly renowned hospitals providing top class specialized treatment, people not only from other states but also from several countries come to Madurai for treatment at affordable cost. The medical tourism is growing by leaps and bounds in this region. Approximately 1,20,000 passengers per annum travel from Madurai and other southern districts of Tamilnadu to Malaysia, 94,000 to Singapore, 80,000 to UAE, 68,000 to Saudi Arabia, 75,000 to Omen, 99,000 to Kuwait and other countries and return through other airports. Lack of direct air service connectivity with many international destinations has been severely restricting industrial, export and economic growth, besides tourism development like Ethnic Tourism, Medical Tourism and for quality education from the area
of southern Tamilnadu.
As of now, Madurai Airport is directly connected by air service to Dubai, Srilanka and Singapore by domestic airliners even though the new Terminal Building at the Airport was inaugurated in 2010. Since Madurai Airport is a point of call with Sri Lanka alone very long back, Sri Lankan Airways is operating a direct flight in Colombo – Madurai sector. Non-
inclusion of Madurai Airport as a point of call with other international destinations has been restraining foreign airliners, in particular, those based in Malaysia, Singapore and Gulf nations Kuwait etc., People in the Southern districts of Tamilnadu are frustrated by the continued neglect of Madurai Airport in this respect especially when other airports in II tier cities in the state like Trichy and Coimbatore enjoy much better international connectivity due to their inclusion as a point of call with many foreign countries. Once in two years all BASA agreements are reviewed. Hence, request AAI to induct Madurai Airport in the next review with each country. Hence there is an imperative need to initiate immediate steps for inclusion of Madurai Airport as a point of call in Bi-lateral Air services Agreement (BASA) with adjoining
countries to facilitate operation of direct passenger and cargo flights by foreign airliners especially those based in Malaysia, Singapore and UAE.
- Declaration of Madurai Airport as 24/7 Airport:
CISF security personnels are now working in 2 shifts at Madurai Airport (6.00 a.m. to 10.00p.m.) 3 rd shift of CISF are not working inside the Airport terminal building due to insufficient number of personnel. They are now working 24/7 at the outside of Madurai Airport Terminal Building. But within the terminal building they work only 6.00 am to 10.00
pm daily ie., 2 shifts only. Sufficient number of additional CISF security personnels should be posted so that they work 24/7 inside the Terminal Building also.
Due to deployment of insufficient number of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, third shift has not been functioning in Madurai Airport. Inability of flights to land in the airport from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and continued non co-operation of the Airport Authority of Madurai to take steps to declare the Airport as 24/7 Airport, despite the fact that the Airport handles much more number of domestic and International passenger traffic than certain other Airports in the region has resulted in diversion of many new flight services scheduled for Madurai Airport to other airports.
Since night parking facility is saturated in Chennai airport, aircrafts could arrive Madurai Airport, even after mid night. For the departure of the aircraft from Chennai at 6 a.m., the aircraft could depart from Madurai at 4.30 a.m. As a result, passengers will be able to travel from Chennai to Madurai at very concessional tariff during late night hours and from
Madurai to Chennai during early morning hours. Revenue to Madurai Airport will also increase. Further in order to encourage the night operations in Tier II City Airports, Tamilnadu Govt slashed VAT on Aviation Turbine Fuel from 29% to 1% applicable only at Madurai, Coimbatore and Trichy Airports in Tamilnadu for flights between 11.00 PM and
7.00 AM that park at the Airports for 3 hours. Air liners viz., Alliance Air, Indigo Airlines and Air India Express are ready to operate their services beyond 10 PM to Madurai. Non-availability of security services beyond that time
has been preventing them from executing their plans.
Declaration of Madurai Airport as 24/7 Airport like Trichy and Coimbatore Airports with deployment of required numbers of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel will only convince airline companies to come forward and operate flight services during late night hours in Madurai Airport.
- Madurai Airport should be declared as International Airport
Although there exist only three international services, Madurai Airport handled 15,32,071
passengers in 2018/19, a healthy increase of 6.1% from the previous year. Of that, 11,78,738
were domestic passengers and, 3,53,333 international. Percentage wise, international
passenger segment grew by 16.29%, whereas domestic segment grew by 3.33%. But despite
the fact that Coimbatore Airport had already been included in the BASA with several other
countries, Madurai Airport has not been included despite the fact that the international
passenger traffic during the above period in Coimbatore Airport stood at 1,81,802 only.
International passenger traffic for the said period in Vijayawada Airport was 2,102 and no
one departed to any international destination from Tirupati Airport. However,
Coimbatore, Vijayawada and Thirupati airports were declared as international
airports by the Central Government while Madurai Airport with much higher
international passenger traffic is still a Customs Airport only. Elevation of Madurai
Airport as an international airport will automatically bring several additional infrastructure.
Lack of comprehensive international connectivity at Madurai Airport is critically retarding
industrial, export, tourism and economic growth in the Southern Districts of Tamilnadu.
Since, Madurai Airport has not been declared as International Airport and due to lack of Visa
on Arrival facility, the passengers are compelled to prefer Trichy and Coimbatore Airport.
Protracted delay in official declaration of Madurai Airport as an international airport
have been retarding the development of the airport. Declaration of Madurai Airport as
an International Airport is sine quo non to motivate trade, industrial and economic
growth in Southern Tamilnadu.
- Setting up permanent Plant Quarantine Officers at Plant Quarantine Station in
Madurai Airport:
In order to facilitate Export Certification of perishable commodities like flowers, vegetable
and fruits for safe global trade in agricultural commodities under the International
Agreements, we request your goodselves to kindly take necessary initiatives to set up
permanent PQ officials at the Plant Quarantine Station at Madurai Airport within the
Directorate of Plant Protection, sufficient Quarantine and Storage at Madurai Airport with
Plant Quarantine Officers to enable the farmers in Madurai as well as in Southern Districts
along with the exporters to export their agricultural produce viz., fruits, vegetables and
flowers etc., directly from Madurai Airport to other international destinations and thus
motivate acceleration of Agricultural Commodities export growth in the southern
region of Tamilnadu.
More than 85% of the International Cargo exported from Madurai airport are
perishables viz., vegetables, fruits and flowers, there is an imperative need for
deployment of permanent plant quarantine officials at Madurai Airport immediately.
We request your goodself Sir, to kindly give due consideration to our demands and take suitable
efforts for early implementation of the said infrastructures at Madurai Airport for the development
of trade, industrial sector and the economic growth of this region.
