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More flights from Tiruchy to major cities soon

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AS Tiruchy International Air-port's poor air connectivity to major domestic destinations has turned out to be a challenge for the industrial and tourism sec-tors of the city, the air travel regulator has assured that the air-port will have flights to Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram by March. "Tiruchy International Airport is one of the most profitable airports and has good potential for domes-tic and international operations. It will have connectivity to Trivandrum and Mumbai by March this year," a top official of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation told Express. Currently, the airport is offering domestic connectivity only to Chennai "With the current growth of trade and commerce, there is no doubt that Tiruchy International Airport needs to be connected to more domestic destinations.

The airport has a lot of potential for air connectivity to Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. Earlier, Air India Express used to operate flights to Mumbai from here and it was successful," said S A Mubashir, joint secretary of the Tiruchy Travel Federation. The federation had at a recent meeting raised this issue with airport officials. Industry experts pointed out that poor domestic connectivity is the major factor driving away IT companies from the city. "Most of the IT companies are preferring Chennai since it is well connected. Our major drawback is that we don't have air connectivity to Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi Domestic connectivity from metros is crucial for attracting investors. If the city has connectivity to more domestic destinations, it will turn into an IT hub," said M Thangaraju, secretary of the Tiruchirapalli District Chamber of Commerce.

Poor awareness on parking fee exception

MOST passengers and visitors coming to Tiruchy International Airport (TIA) are unaware of an exception for pick/drop fees. Parking fee contractors often do not bother informing people about it. According to the Airports Authority of India, a parking fee is applicable only if the vehicle spends more than five minutes at the air-port. Although the airport has placed a fee chart at the entry point, passengers who overlook this board usually pay the amount sought by the parking fee collector.
Also, airport officials have not made any effort to put up more fee chart boards for people to see. "I paid Rs 55 since I was unaware that pick and drop done in five minutes is free. The airport should put up a separate display board mentioning this," said Arasu, who had come to drop his father at the air-port. Even taxi drivers who often come to the airport claimed no efforts have been made to inform people of the parking fee exception. "Since I often visit the airport to pick/drop passengers, I am aware of the exception.

I usually inform passengers in advance the parking fee would be included in taxi fare if exiting the airport takes more than five minutes. I take them to the en-trance side where the fee chart is placed, if they don't agree", said Ganesh, a cab driver. Interestingly, some visitors were convinced there is no parking fee exception. "I came to pick up my friend and paid Us for two-wheeler parking. I am not aware of any parking fee exception," said Maharaja. When contacted, Tiruchy airport director K Gunasekaran said he would make enquiries and immedi-ate efforts would be made to sort out the issue.
source: epaper. newindianexpress. com//c/25422240 

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