Salem Airport in Service After 13 Years
On Sunday, Kingfisher kicked off its Chennai-Salem flight, a development which has put the Salem airport, in western Tamil Nadu, into operation after a wait of 13 years. The inaugural flight, with 68 passengers on board, arrived at Salem on Sunday after noon and was received by the State Agriculture Minister Veeapandi S Arumugam.
The 1 hour long Kingfisher flight will be a daily service, departing from Chennai at 2.50 pm and reaching Salem at 3.50 pm. The flight in the return direction, on the other hand, will depart from Salem at 4.20 pm and land in Chennai at 5.20 pm.
The new flight will allow Salem residents to fly to Delhi via Chennai, a flight for which they had to first travel to Chennai earlier. The Salem airport, built on a 136 acre area and run via donations from local traders and industrialists, had been lying barren since 1993 as no carrier was willing to invest in this pocket. Low patronage is cited as the main reason by airlines for stating away from Salem.
Things are now different thanks to Kingfisher which has made the life of Salem residents much easier. Booked in advance the Salem-Chennai ticket would cost Rs. 2,529, a week in advance would take the price up to between Rs. 2,859 and Rs 7,200. A Salem-Chennai-Delhi ticket is priced at Rs. 6,700 apiece.
