MADURAI: Agro Food Chamber of Commerce and Industry president S Rethinavelu on Saturday has appealed to Minister of Civil Aviation Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu to upgrade Madurai airport to an international airport. In a letter to the minister, Rethinavelu highlighted infrastructure facilities like night landing and take off at Madurai airport in support of his request.
"Several international flight services are diverted to other airports for want of 24*7 facility. This is hampering the industrial development of southern and south-central districts of Tamil Nadu. Even though the civil aviation ministry announced that from April 1, 2023, Madurai airport will function 24*7, it is yet to be put into effect," he said.
The president further stated that including Madurai airport in the point-of-call list in the bi-lateral airport services agreement (BASA) with countries within a distance of 4,000 km (Singapore, Malaysia, Doha, Kuwait, and in the UAE such as Dubai, Sharjah, and Abu Dhabi) will enable the airliners of these countries to operate direct flights to Madurai. Rethinavelu, however, claimed that the aforementioned countries have been demanding the same, but the civil aviation ministry has not made any progress in this regard.
Rethinavelu also stated that an underpass is a must for Aruppukottai Road, for runway extension works at the Madurai airport. "Huge construction cost and post-construction security infrastructure should not be an impediment in proceeding with the underpass, since other airports like those in Varanasi and Mysore have executed such facilities," he added.