CHENNAI: The people who were hoping to travel by air from Chennai to Southern districts to celebrate the Pongal festival were left disappointed, as tickets on all flights to key destinations were fully booked, causing widespread inconvenience.
With Pongal celebrations approaching, people from southern districts living in Chennai and its suburban areas have been heading to the Chennai airport to fly home. However, passengers found that all flights from Chennai to Madurai, Tirchy, Thoothukudi, Coimbatore and Salem were completely sold out, leaving them unable to travel by air.
Due to the unavailability of tickets on direct flights to the southern districts, many passengers attempted to book seats on Chennai-Thiruvananthapuram flights as an alternative. While the usual fare on this route is around Rs 3,889, festival demand has pushed prices up to Rs 9,797, with only a few seats available.
A similar situation prevails in the Chennai-Coimbatore sector, where all direct flights are fully booked. Passengers who try to reach Coimbatore through connecting flights are forced to pay fares as high as Rs 16,500, compared to the regular ticket price of around Rs 3,499.
Passengers said there is a sharp reduction in the number of flights operating within Tamil Nadu. Until a few months ago, as many as 16 daily arrival and departure flights were operated between Chennai and Madurai. This number has now been reduced to just six due to airlines replacing smaller ATR aircraft with larger planes. Similarly, the number of daily flights to Tirchy has dropped from eight to four.
In addition, flights to destinations such as Thoothukudi, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tirchy have reportedly been suspended by some airlines without any clear explanation. Passengers have urged airlines to operate additional flights during festival periods and summer holidays, similar to the practice of running special trains and buses, to meet the surge in demand and prevent such hardships in the future.