Chances to revive commercial operations from Salem airport have brightened with Vijay Mallaya’s Kingfisher Airlines evincing a “keen interest”. The airline is planning its operations to Salem in the forthcoming winter schedule.

This is the third airlines in three years to show interest in operations to Salem airport which has remained idle for nearly a decade now, confining its operations to a few private airliners and choppers. Earlier Paramount and Air Deccan evinced “keenness to fly” from Salem. But for reasons unknown, these airlines’ interests did not take off.

General Manager (Network Planning and Charters), Kingfisher Airlines Limited, Mumbai, Elsa D’ Silva, in a recent e-mail to S. Sathyanarayanan, President, Salem, Dharmapuri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the airlines would begin operations once the airport was cleared for commercial operations by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

A team led by Bhanu Kaila, head of sales for South and West India, Kingfisher Airlines, would visit the city shortly for “commercial link-ups,” said Mr. Sathyanarayanan, one of those who were instrumental in getting the airport to Salem.

“Despite many attempts, we could not make Salem a viable hub for passenger traffic owing to lack of assurance and enthusiasm on the part of the local community,” he says.

Source: THE HINDU