On his way back from Tokyo, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Wednesday, May 31, 2023 wrote to the Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiradiya M. Scindia requesting to re-introduce a direct flight connectivity between Tokyo and Chennai. Mr. Stalin also requested to increase the number of flights between Singapore and Madurai.
The Chief Minister is on his way back to Chennai from Tokyo after completing his official tour to Japan and Singapore, where he invited investors for the Global Investors Meet scheduled in Chennai on January next.
The direct flight between Chennai and Tokyo launched in October 2019 by All Nippon Airways (ANA) was discontinued during the COVID-19 pandemic, he pointed out.
“The lack of direct flight connectivity more than doubles the travel time between these two destinations by about seven hours, which is significant. There have been persistent requests from the Japanese business community in Tamil Nadu to resume direct flight services between Chennai and Tokyo,” he added.
Increased influx of Japanese expatriates
Several Japanese conglomerates such as Nissan, Toshiba, Yamaha, Komatsu, Mitsubishi and Hitachi have set up their manufacturing facilities in Tamil Nadu. Of the 12 industrial townships established in India under the Japan-India Investment Promotion Partnership Program, three are in Tamil Nadu.
With over 600 Japanese companies having establishments in the State over the last two decades, the influx of Japanese expatriates has slowly increased. Chennai is home to the largest Japanese community in India.
“At the same time, Japan also has a significant Tamil diaspora, in particular professionals in the Information Technology and finance related fields. Resultantly, there has been a steady strengthening of economic and cultural relations between Tamil Nadu and Japan and people to people relationships in the form of tourism was also growing, the CM said.
Connectivity with Singapore
Singapore has a sizeable population of nearly 4 lakh persons of Tamil origin, who still maintain roots in their native towns and villages, predominantly in southern Tamil Nadu. Further, many persons travel from the southern districts of Tamil Nadu for employment to Singapore.
“While there are multiple daily flight connections between Singapore and Chennai and Tiruchi and one daily flight between Singapore and Coimbatore, there is only a tri-weekly flight between Singapore and Madurai. This issue of more flight services between Singapore and Madurai was raised by the Minister for Home Affairs and Law of the Government of Singapore K. Shanmugham when he met me,” Mr. Stalin said.
A similar request was also raised by many members of the Tamil diaspora in Singapore, Mr. Stalin said and requested: “I would be grateful if the request of permitting more flights to operate between Singapore and Madurai is favourably considered.”
