The government-owned carrier Air India has been asked by the the Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh to develop a hub in South India to target passenger traffic from the states in the region. Air India has to consider setting up a hub in Chennai or Bangalore. It can have its main hub in Delhi, Singh said.
The Minister said the growing trade and commerce in south Indian region could support the passenger demand. The minister has called for a meeting on the issue next week.
The move is significant in the backdrop of AirAsiaÂ’s plans to make Chennai as its domestic base and its ambition to use South India as a base to fly to West Asia, Bangladesh, Africa and parts of China.
In last June, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced developing Delhi and Chennai as aviation hubs, but the proposal did not move forward. Air India operates 340 weekly international flights.
It would be starting services to Birmingham and Sydney-Melbourne from Delhi in August. Till a few years ago, Mumbai was the airlineÂ’s main hub but it shifted most of its operations to Indira Gandhi International AirportÂ’s Terminal-3 in New Delhi in 2010.
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