More flights, freight service sought for Salem

At present, industries and manufacturing sector in Salem rely solely on logistic firms that carry goods by roads and railways. “If air freight service is introduced, the industries will be at an advantage since it’ll be able to deliver goods at short notice. Also, it will save time as transportation by roads take a lot of time. Even perishable commodities could be sent by flights,” said SS Yuvaraj, former chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and general secretary of Association of Garment Exporters.

Fabric and anklets manufactured in Salem district, mango pulp from Dharmapuri and other goods are sent in bulk to Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru. Even sago, a staple diet in north India, is manufactured and sent in huge volumes from Salem.

“Not less than 150 tonnes of goods per week could be sent as air cargo if air freight service is started. If not an exclusive air cargo flight, at least the existing passenger flights should come forward to transport goods. Even flights from Ernakulam bound for Mumbai and other north Indian states could make a stop-over in Salem,” added Yuvaraj.

After seven long years, the much-awaited flight service, operated by Hyderabad-based Trujet, was flagged off by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy on March 25, 2018. Ever since the construction of the airport in 1993, the flight services were operated only for about 16 months.

Several air carriers stopped operations midway due to lack of passenger patronage. However, now the passenger patronage for the flight, which is operated under the UDAN scheme of the central government, has been witnessing over 70 per cent occupancy regularly.

“The air carrier proposed to start another service in the evening from Salem to Chennai. However, it was put on hold due to unfavourable weather conditions in the airport area. Also, more flights could be introduced only if the airport was expanded, but there are issues over land acquisition as well,” said K Mariappan, vice president of Tamil Nadu Small Scale and Tiny Industries Association from Salem district.