MADURAI: The Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged the Ministry of Civil Aviation to resume the Air India flight service to Singapore from Madurai airport, which was suspended on March 30.
The president of Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry N Jegatheesan, in a statement, said that direct flight service between Madurai and Singapore commenced in September 2017 after continuous efforts by the chamber.
To facilitate the late-night operation of the flights, the Director-General of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), extended the Air Traffic Control (ATC) watch hours (6 am to 10 pm) by one hour (till 11 pm), providing overtime salary to the CISF personnel.
"However, it was recently learnt that the third shift of the CISF personnel are no longer working at the Madurai airport, at the time of operation of the Air India Express Madurai-Singapore flight," Jegatheesan stated. Further, the request to prepone the arrival of the flight at the Singapore flight was reportedly denied owing to more number of international flights landing at the Singapore airport around the same time, he mentioned.
As a result, the Air India Express Madurai-Singapore flight services were stopped from March 30 due to inadequate CISF personnel who could otherwise be deployed in the third shift, the trade body stated.
The cancellation of the direct flight to Singapore affects the arrival of tourists from various nations through Singapore, the domestic trade industry and the arrival of medical tourists from Singapore and Malaysia, the Chamber mentioned. It further urged the Ministry of Civil Aviation to resume the flight operation to ensure economic development in South Tamil Nadu.