Domestic air connectivity from Tiruchi gets a fillip

Domestic air connectivity from Tiruchi Airport is all set to improve as a couple of private airlines are set to introduce operations from the city soon.

Jet Airways, which already operates services on the Chennai-Tiruchi-Chennai sector, will launch direct services from the city to Mumbai and New Delhi from March 25.

Confirming the launch of the services, Airport Director K. Gunasekaran said he had received the schedule of operation of the services on Saturday.

While it will be a daily service on the Tiruchi-Mumbai sector, the Tiruchi-Delhi service would be operated five days a week. The Tiruchi-Mumbai flight would depart from here at 2.40 p.m. and reach Mumbai at 4.50 p.m. everyday. On Mondays to Fridays, it will reach New Delhi at 8.20 p.m., he said speaking to reporters here on Saturday.

According to the information available at the airline’s website, the flight from New Delhi would depart at 9 a.m. every day and reach Tiruchi at 2.10 p.m.

Mr. Gunasekaran indicated that another airline, IndiGo, was also keen on launching services from Tiruchi and has been allotted commercial space for operations at the airport terminal. Though there was speculation that the airline would be operating to Bengaluru from the city, Mr. Gunasekaran said the airline was yet to inform the sectors on which it would be operating services from here.

Answering a query, Mr. Gunasekaran said that land acquisition for the airport runway expansion was well on course. “The district administration is pursuing the matter. The boundaries have been marked. The process is expected to be completed soon once the government releases the funds for payment of compensation,”he said.

He also pointed out that the Ministry of Defence has already granted in principle approval for providing about 336 acres for the airport expansion and the land of equal value sought by the Ministry has been identified at Kancheepuram. The land transfer was expected to take place soon as the State government was pursuing the matter, he said.

The Airports Authority of India, he pointed out, has already allotted Rs. 920 crore for the construction of the new terminal building. The consultant has submitted the detailed project estimate which is being scrutinised by the AAI. Once the AAI board approves the estimates, tenders would be called for the project, he said.

Recruitment fraud

Mr. Gunasekaran called upon all job aspirants to exercise caution with respect to frauds perpetrated by some agencies and websites claiming that AAI was recruiting personnel for various positions. All job vacancies are notified only in the AAI’s official websitewww.aai.aerobesides the Employment News and leading newspapers.

Registration of applications has to be done only through the official website. Only application fee is payable at the time of registration and no other payment will be sought at any stage of recruitment.

However, complaints were being received from youth who have been duped by some agencies which had collected money from applicants under the heads of application fee and security deposit. Some had paid big sums of Rs. 50,000 and above as security deposit.

“We have been getting two to three complaints a week of late. A complaint has been lodged with the City Police Commissioner and an investigation is under way,” he said and cautioned youth against being misled by advertisements put out by unscrupulous elements.

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