Stalin urges Centre to resume direct flight connectivity between Chennai & Tokyo

CHENNAI: Chief Minister M K Stalin has asked the Union Civil Aviation Ministry to re-introduce direct flight connectivity between Tokyo and Chennai and increase the number of flights between Singapore and Madurai to at least a daily service at the earliest on a priority basis.

In his letter to Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiadiya Scindia, Stalin referred to the presence of manufacturing facilities of many large Japanese conglomerates like Nissan, Toshib, Yamaha, Komatsu, Mitsubishi and Hitachi in Chennai and said that the Chennai-Tokyo direct flight introduce in October 2019 by All Nippon Airways, Japan’s largest airline, was discontinued during the Covid-19 pandemic and the service has not been resumed.

Pointing out that three of the 12 industrial townships established in India under Japan-India Investment Promotion Partnership Program were in Tamil Nadu, the Chief Minister said that lack of direct flight more than doubles the travel time between Tokyo and Chennai by about seven hours.