The city airport may be handling more international passengers than Bengaluru, but the airport does not have direct flights to the US, Australia, Japan, South Korea, or Indonesia, though passenger traffic to these destinations is high. People now fly via Bengaluru or Dubai.
The limitations in ground infrastructure prevent the airport from encouraging more flights, especially to long-haul destinations.
South Korea approached the ministry of civil aviation with a request to start direct flights from Chennai to Seoul in 2015. Now, the Korean authorities have approached Bengaluru airport. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin requested the aviation ministry last year to resume Chennai-Tokyo flights. This is also pending. Malaysia has been pushing for flights between Chennai and Penang.
The airlines are yet to resume flights that were discontinued. The direct flights to Paris and the Reunion Islands are yet to resume. Instead, Air France is operating daily flights from Bengaluru.
In 2023-24, Chennai handled 58.79 lakh international passengers, an increase of 20.9%, while Bengaluru handled 46.67 lakh international passengers, an increase of 23.3% compared to the previous year.
A majority of the flights from Chennai are to the Middle East, southeast Asia, and a few neighbouring countries. In addition, there are flights to London and Frankfurt. In contrast, Bengaluru has direct flights to the US, Germany, France, Turkey, Australia, Japan, and Indonesia. Emirates uses an A380 on the Dubai-Bengaluru route.
Hiren Shah, former secretary of Air Passengers of India (APAI), said, “We have to depend on hubs in the Middle East and southeast Asia to fly to Europe, the US, and Australia. This has to be changed. The passenger load is scattered between Chennai, Trichy, and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. The challenges in capacity and infrastructure need to be overcome.”
Bengaluru has better frequency and a better choice of destinations because of high business travel, which brings in more revenue. In Chennai, the passengers comprise those travelling for leisure, family visits, and work.
Arul Lazaran of United Travel Services said, “There is a lot of demand for travel to Australia and the US from Chennai. Now, people fly via Bengaluru. They drive down or take a train to board direct flights.”
C Mohan, a retired airline official, said, “The airport here should be able to confirm the slots for airlines. They are not able to do this because parking bays and aerobridges are not adequate.”
A fresh beginning is being made, said an airport official. AAI hopes that the new international terminal (T2) will help improve connectivity. A meeting with stakeholders and state govt officials on expansion plans, including attracting foreign airlines and cargo operations, was held last week.