Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry has made an appeal to Jet Airways to introduce a direct flight service between Madurai and Abu Dhabi.
In an appeal to Naresh Goyal, Chairman, Jet Airways, the chamber Senior President S. Rethinavelu and president N. Jegatheesan, requested him to consider introduction of direct flight in Madurai-Abu Dhabi sector also by Jet Airways in the winter schedule.
They said that since Jet Airways will be treated as domestic airliner even after the deal and hence the non-inclusion of Madurai airport in the bi-lateral airport treaty with the UAE will not restrict Jet Airways from introducing the said flight. Spice Jet and Mihin Lanka have been operating direct service in Madurai–Colombo sector. Further, Madurai politically and demographically is the second most important city, next only to Chennai in Tamil Nadu and is the gateway for the southern districts of the State.
It attracts tourists from far and wide and has reputed hospitals for affordable treatments.
It is also estimated that as many as 80,000 passengers travel from the southern districts of Tamil Nadu to UAE every year through Tiruchi and Chennai airports. Early introduction of direct flight between Madurai and Abu Dhabi would, therefore, immensely benefit passengers and also would motivate people from southern districts to make holiday trips to the UAE and prove to be commercially viable for Jet Airways, they added.