A dream come true for Salem people

The activation of the airport has assumed greater significance with the city and the district witnessing the execution of many mega development projects such as the super speciality hospital, Information Technology Park, expansion and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of Salem Steel Plant, the formation of new railway division and four-laning of all National Highways that criss-cross the city and district - all at an estimated cost of a staggering sum of Rs. 3,000 crore.

Ideally located on the sprawling 130 acres abutting the Salem-Bangalore four-lane National Highways at Kamalapuram, some 15 kilometres away from the city, the airport has the facility to suit Boeing operations.

Many donated lands for the establishment of the airport when the idea was mooted. But unfortunately it has remained dormant since 1993 barring three months when the NEPC operated flight in the Chennai-Salem-Coimbatore-Chennai sector.

But, unfortunately the NEPC withdrew citing ‘non-viability’ as its main reason. The air passengers felt that the charges the airlines levied then was exorbitant.

Since then the airport has been left to the operations of chartered flights and choppers of private firms and political leaders. Efforts at various levels have been undertaken to reactivate the airport for the domestic operations in a sustained manner.

Agriculture Minister Veerapandi S. Arumugam took the lead. The then IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran assured the people of Salem that he would take necessary steps to reactivate the airport. Anbumani Ramadoss, the then Union Minister of Health, also chipped in.

The trade and commerce people and educationalists convened a meeting with officials from Air Deccan. Later, the Agriculture Minister himself hosted a meeting in which officials from Paramount Airlines and the entire trade and industrial community took part. The operators were assured of healthy patronage.

In fact, Deccan had already possessed certificate (NOC) from the Ministry of Civil Aviation to operate flights from here. It had plans to connect Mumbai and Bangalore.

There was also a proposal to press short-haul ATR-42-320 carriers, which are suitable for the runway at Salem. The operators asked the Ministry to take necessary steps to provide the night landing facility, which the airport at present does not have.

All these operators promised to return. But none came back. While Air Deccan insisted an “underwriting commitment” for traffic viability, Paramount assured the citizens that it would study the commercial viability before launching the schedule.

But people here say that these airlines never provided them the destinations, timings and fare.

The take over of Deccan by Kingfisher Airlines had shelved the plans to operate flights from Salem.

Thus the momentum for the resumption of flight services from here had suffered a setback.

But Salem Productivity Council president K Mariappan and S. Sathyanarayanan, president Salem-Dharmapuri Chamber of Commerce and Industry co-ordinated their efforts with Kingfisher, which evinced ‘keenness to fly’ in the Chennai-Salem-Chennai sector.

Their team also visited the city twice for ‘commercial link-ups’ before finalising the schedule. Kingfisher Airlines has become the third operator in three years to show interest in operations at Salem.

The airport boasts of a good 6,000 feet runway, a scanner machine, well-equipped control tower, electronic track detector device and other gadgets essential for successful and full-fledged wide-bodied flight operations.

The compound wall has been repaired and villagers have been warned to keep off from the ‘prohibited’ area.

“As the government has already included it under the ‘Idle Airports’ Activation Programme,’ the chances of getting modern equipment in near future look brighter,” says a senior official.

However, it all depends on the sustainability of the operation and the city’s response to it.

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