In a first letter after his foreign visit, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin wrote to Union Civil Aviation Minister requesting to reintroduce direct flights to Japan and increase the number of flights between Singapore and Madurai to at least one daily flight.
On Wednesday, Tamil Nadu CM said, “I wish to point out that at present there is no direct flight connectivity between Chennai and Tokyo. In October 2019, All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan's largest airline, launched a direct flight service between Chennai and Tokyo which was discontinued during the Covid 19 pandemic.”
“This service has not been resumed subsequently. The lack of direct flight connectivity more than doubles the travel time between these two destinations by about 7 hours, which is significant,” he said.
Likewise, Stalin said, “While there are multiple daily flight connections between Singapore and Chennai and Tiruchirappalli and one daily flight between Singapore and Coimbatore, there is only a tri-weekly flight between Singapore and Madurai.”
“I would be grateful if the request of permitting more flights to operate between Singapore and Madurai is favourably considered,” he said. A similar request was also raised by many members of the Tamil diaspora in Singapore, he added.
As a result, Stalin requested Ministry of Civil Aviation to re-introduce direct flight connectivity between Tokyo and Chennai and increase the number of flights between Singapore and Madurai to at least one daily flight. Stalin also requested the Ministry to consider these two proposals on a priority basis.
TN CM also reminded the Centre of the Global Investors' Meet that the state is set to hold in January 2024.