13/7 cited to demand flights for Surat

Surat: The 13/7 blasts of Mumbai have lent urgency to Surat's demand for better air connectivity. Most of Surat's small and medium-sized diamond polishers and traders operating from Mumbai say they would relocate to Surat if it gets regular flights to Mumbai and other metros. As of now, the diamond city has only one flight a day, to Delhi and back.
Devsinhbhai Bhadiyadra, a medium diamond manufacturer who owns a small trading office at Shreeji Plaza in South Mumbai's Opera House, said, "As Surat lacks proper air connectivity, we have no other option but to set up trading offices at Opera House where polished diamond buyers from across the world converge."
According to him, 80 per cent of small and medium diamond traders would shift to Surat if it got direct flights from Mumbai, also for the reason that real estate is too costly in Mumbai; owning a decent office and residence in Mumbai costs anywhere between Rs 5 crore and Rs 6 crore.
Of course, there is the option of shifting to the fortress-like building of the Bharat Diamond Bourse in Mumbai's Bandra-Kurla Complex, but small diamond traders, who have an annual turnover of Rs 50 crore to Rs 100 crore, find it unaffordable.
30/07/11 Melvyn Thomas/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Jul 2011