Madurai: At a time when airlines are resuming services across the country due to the current unlocking phase, Air India Express is closing down bookings for Madurai airport, causing a great deal of concern among fliers and traders in the southern districts.
The budget airline has been operating four flights a week connecting Delhi-Madurai-Singapore since September 2017. The service was doing well before Covid-19 stopped operations last year. Though it was to resume this April, Airports Authority of India did not give slots citing timing issues for late night flight. Subsequently, Air India Express operated only one flight in the sector on Mondays.
The Delhi-Madurai flight, which was operated thrice a week, was stopped in March. While bookings for this sector have not opened since then, those for Madurai-Singapore sector have also been closed now. The flight from Delhi departed at 9.55 am and reached Madurai at 1.10 pm while in the return journey, it departed from Madurai at 1.55 pm and reached Delhi at 5.10 pm. The timings provided the much-needed connectivity for the business community as well as those travelling for education and leisure.
Aviation enthusiasts are now circumspect whether Madurai is being intentionally neglected. The Madurai-Singapore sector was one of the profitable routes for Air India Express on Pan India-Singapore routes, they say. S Sankar, an aviation enthusiast, said there are talks that the flights could be suspended. The viability of a flight comes down when the station is handling a lonely flight in a week. We are approaching elected representatives to apply pressure to continue both the services” he said.
27/06/21 V Devanathan/Times of India
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