Sky-high fares: DMK MLA proposes state-owned ‘PeriAir’

CHENNAI: Exorbitant airfare has not spared even our affluent MLAs this festival season. An MLA from the ruling DMK has proposed a state-owned flight service to overcome extortionate air ticket prices. DMK MLA from Mannargudi, TRB Rajaa on Thursday, posted a screenshot of the ticket price of Chennai bound flights from Thoothukudi, which ranged from Rs 17,000 to over Rs 20,000, and tweeted, “Flightickets for an ATR flight from #Tuticorin to #Chennai. For this price, we can travel to Singapore. Is it time to operate a#stateowned flight service?”

The MLA, who is the son of DMK treasurer T R Baalu and secretary of the ruling DMK’s IT wing, has also proposed a name for the state owned flight service. “PeriAir sounds like a good name. Why not?” Rajaa tweeted, proposing the name of the party’s ideological guru ‘Thanthai’ Periyar for the flight service. “Periyar gave wings to TN’s equitable growth model#AirFareHike#DravidianModel,” Rajaa reasoned.

The DMK MLA followed up his proposal with another tweet explaining how the business model would work. “Quality service. Right service at right time (dep/arr). An institution without political intervention. Everyone will get flight service if new airports are available in Chennai, Tiruchy, Salem, Coimbatore, Madurai, Thoothukudi, Thanjavur and Kanniyakumari ? Commerce will grow. New investments will come, ” Rajaa added. The DMK Twitterati picked it up from him and ran a twitter handle #PeriAir besides urging the state government to pursue the idea actively.