Copter service to connect tourist centres in TN
Coimbatore (PTI): The Helicopter Corporation of India and Tamil Nadu government have proposed to enter into a joint venture for launching helicopter service connecting major tourist centres in the state, a senior Airport Authority of India (AAI) official said on Monday.
Initially, Coimbatore and Udhagamandalam and Madurai and Kodaikanal would be linked for the benefit of tourists, K Ramalingam, Regional Executive Director, AAI, Chennai, told reporters on the sidelines of a National seminar on Aerospace Structures, organised by Park College of Engineering and Technology, on the city outskirts.
AAI has taken up the expansion of runways and aprons at airports of Madurai, Tiruchy, Mangalore, Calicut, Visakhapatnam and Thiruvananthapuram to cope with the increase in the volume of traffic. The expansion would facilitate easy landing and take off of more wide-bodied aircraft, he said.
Saying that Rs 220 crore have been earmarked for taking up the development works during this year, he said buildings at Madurai, Coimbatore, Mangalore and Calicut were being modified to accommodate domestic traffic, while new building would be constructed at Tiruchy, Madurai, Coimbatore and Mangalore for the convenience of International carriers.
The number of passengers travelled by various airlines in 2006-07 was estimated to be around 96.34 million, which was expected to cross 110 million this year, he said.
National
