A delegation comprising of senior office bearers led by P Ravichandran, Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu State Council, M Ponnuswami, Vice Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu State Council and S Narayanan, Chairman, CII Coimbatore Zone met Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Minister for Civil Aviation, Government of India recently in New Delhi. The delegation discussed on the critical interventions required in the aviation sector towards the growth of major cities in Tamil Nadu namely, Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem and Trichy.
A press release from CII Coimbatore stated that Tamil Nadu State leads in several industrial sectors like Auto and Auto components, Engineering, Pharmaceuticals, Garments, Textiles, Leather products and Chemicals. Air connectivity is a critical factor for a State and its constituent cities to develop and retain its leadership position in multiple sectors. Being an industrial State, full-fledged air connectivity to key destinations across the globe is a must for cities like Coimbatore.
Through the press release, Ravi Sam, Past Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu State Council stated that only Trichy and Madurai serve to international destinations as of now. Coimbatore acts as a gateway to places like Tiruppur, Trichy, Salem and Erode needs improved international air connectivity for both passenger travel and cargo handling that is growing multi fold year on year.
The domestic air traffic in Coimbatore region in 2016 was estimated at around 20 lakhs and the international air traffic was around 1.3 lakhs. With improved air connectivity to various domestic and international destinations, the Coimbatore region has a total catchment potential of 1.25 crore air passengers.
The total value of products exported from the Coimbatore region through air cargo is estimated at
Rs. 1 lakh crore.
The CII delegation, during the meeting with the Minister of Civil Aviation urged for airport land expansion, cargo facility up-gradation, need for additional runway in Chennai Airport, creation of aviation MROs, identifying land for constructing Greenfield airport in Chennai and also stressed on the need for airport expansion at Mysore, Hubbali and Puducherry.
The Minister assured the CII delegation that his Ministry would do the needful with regard to airport infrastructure in Tamil Nadu and Southern States.
Subsequently, the CII delegation met with the senior officials of Government of Tamil Nadu and briefed them on the discussions held with the Minister of Civil Aviation and sought the support of Government of Tamil Nadu in improving the aviation industry in the state.