Doubts crop up over upcoming Madurai Colombo flight

The recent tension over the presence of Sri Lankans in Tamil Nadu has caused trade bodies in southern districts worry over the prospects of international connectivity for Madurai as the first full-fledged international flight was scheduled from Colombo on September 20. While not going into the political aspects of the controversy, the trade bodies here, which had been campaigning for years to get international flights as a means to boost economic activity in the region, have expressed concern that if the first overseas flight were to get delayed or scrapped, it would have long-term negative consequence for Madurai Airport getting international connectivity.
B.S.G. Musthafa, president of Travel Club, told The Hindu that following the Sri Lankan Government’s negative advisory, there has been an immediate 40 per cent drop in passenger traffic from Tamil Nadu to Colombo.
This would have a dramatic impact on the many sectors heavily dependent on tourism in Tamil Nadu such as textile, jewellery, surface transport, airline and handicrafts.
06/09/12 R Sairam/The Hindu

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Categories: airports Sep 2012, Foreign Sep 2012