Air India Express plans to temporarily suspend flights from Chennai to Madurai, Port Blair, Guwahati, and Hyderabad from the end of October.
As a result, IndiGo will be the lone operator to destinations such as Guwahati, Madurai, and Hyderabad. After suspending the Chennai-Madurai services, Air India Express will introduce Bengaluru-Madurai flights.
Airline sources told The Hindu that these were ‘seasonal cuts’ and they might consider resuming it later next year based on the demand. The airline has been focusing on making Bengaluru their hub for various reasons.
It is to be noted that IndiGo is the sole operator for flights from Chennai to destinations such as Coimbatore, Tiruchi, and Kochi.
Officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said the demand supply was driven by the opportunities in the State. “An airport is a transport hub; we don’t generate the demand. If Chennai, like Bengaluru, had as many high-end white-collar jobs that could fuel such demand, then our connectivity too would increase,” an official said.
Now, the government is finally focusing on the creation of such jobs, and hopefully, the demand will increase, leading to additional connectivity in Chennai, sources said.
“It is good to see we have distributed growth in aviation. But sadly, that is not enough. Unless the capital city stands out with maximum connectivity and growth, it won’t help the State. Chennai needs to grow in aviation on a par with Bengaluru and we need a vision for that,” an expert in aviation said.
A. Sankar, a frequent flyer, said it was disappointing to see the airline suspend connectivity to some of the cities temporarily. “Passengers need to have quite a few options to fly because that is the way to ensure the prices are competitive and affordable,” he added.
