Chennai remains a backward for the aviation industry

Tour and Travel agencies from across Tamil Nadu urged the union government to improve flight connectivity from Chennai to domestic and international tourist destinations for the convenience of travellers.

Moreover, there are no direct flights from Chennai to Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, China, Indonesia, Australia, Cambodia, and even the USA, they said. The agencies also said that tourists who have to visit Kashmir have to take a connecting flight to Delhi and then go to Srinagar

Ninety per cent of the international flights take off from either Delhi or Mumbai and rest from either Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Chennai and Kolkata have been left out of the radar of the civil aviation ministry for the past several decades. Airport infrastructure in Chennai remains backward compared to Delhi Mumbai or Bengaluru and it is state owned.

The agencies stated that tourists from Tamil Nadu capital who visit even nearby tourist destinations like Goa have to take flights from Bengaluru or other cities or have to travel by road as the frequency of flights and choice of airlines are limited. There are just two direct flights to Goa from Chennai.

Similarly, for travelling to Japan have to take a connecting flight via Colombo and one has to take a connecting flight to Delhi, Mumbai or other countries like Dubai to go to the USA.

 Japanese airline started a direct flight from Chennai to Tokyo before the corona pandemic three years ago. The service has since been called off.