Tiruchi airport records marginal rise in international passenger traffic

Tiruchi MP Durai Vaiko has appealed to the Civil Aviation Ministry to designate Tiruchi as a ‘Point of Call’ under the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA), particularly for Gulf countries

The Tiruchi International Airport has seen a marginal rise in international passenger traffic in the last eight months of this financial year over the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. 

Domestic traffic also saw an increase in this financial year.

With Air India Express announcing launch of its service between Tiruchi and Dammam in Saudi Arabia from January 2, overseas passenger traffic from this non-metro international airport is expected to go up.  Being the second busiest airport in Tamil Nadu after Chennai in terms of overseas traffic, the Tiruchi airport handled a little over 9.21 lakh international passengers from April to November this fiscal. The number of international passengers who arrived at Tiruchi airport during this period was a little over 4.54 lakh while it was more than 4.6 lakh in the case of departure passengers, according to airport authorities.

The overall international  passenger traffic till November from the start of the current fiscal (April ) witnessed a marginal rise as compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.  From April to November 2023, the airport handled 8.47 lakh passengers.

Overseas flights from Tiruchi are now being operated to Colombo, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Doha, and Kuwait by different airlines. The number of overseas destinations will increase to 11 from early January once the new service to Dammam takes off. 

Air India Express is the lone airline which operates flights to the West Asian destinations from Tiruchi at present, while AirAsia and Batik Air operate daily flights to Kuala Lumpur. Sri Lankan Airlines operates service to Colombo. The new service to Bangkok by the Thai AirAsia airline from late September helped in augmenting overseas passenger traffic, said airport sources. The service to Bangkok was being primarily used by tourists with the passenger load being around 70 %. 

For long, there has been a demand from the tourism sector and travellers body to designate Tiruchi as a ‘Point of Call’ under the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) to enable newer foreign airlines to start services to additional international destinations.

Tiruchi MP Durai Vaiko, in a memorandum to the Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu in early July, appealed to him to designate Tiruchi as a ‘Point of Call’ for Gulf countries, particularly Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar keeping the international traffic potential and its economic benefitsi.

Mr. Durai Vaiko told The Hindu on Tuesday that he was trying to convince the Civil Aviation Ministry on this issue in the interest of passengers. “Tiruchi being the second airport in Tamil Nadu after Chennai in terms of handling overseas passenger traffic, BASA is essential for the growth of the airport and in addressing passenger needs.  This will enable foreign carriers to operate to Tiruchi which will increase business, tourism, and employment”, said S.A. Mubashir, vice-president, Trichy Tourism Federation.

BASA will also pave the way for connections to all West Asian destinations besides to Europe, Africa, and the U.S., Mr. Mubashir said. Passengers from Tiruchi and other districts in the south could board with a through check-in to the above overseas destinations instead of travelling to Chennai, he said and added that this would help in boosting inbound tourism.

Published - December 17, 2024 06:59 pm IST