Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, in a letter to Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditiya Scindia, urged for the re-introduction of direct flights between Tokyo and Chennai and increasing the number of flights between Singapore and Madurai.

In his letter, Stalin pointed out that earlier, Japan’s largest airline had launched a direct flight between Chennai and Tokyo, but it got discontinued during the COVID-19 pandemic, and since then, it has remained discontinued.

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“I wish to point out that, at present, there is no direct flight connectivity between Chennai and Tokyo. In October 2019, All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s largest airline, launched a direct flight service between Chennai and Tokyo which was discontinued during the COVID-19 pandemic. This service has not been resumed subsequently. The lack of direct flight connectivity more than doubles the travel time between these two destinations by about 7 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,” read the letter from CM Stalin.

Referring to the Global Investors’ Meet in January 2024, Stalin said, “As we seek to attract greater investments from Japan, resumption of direct flights would indeed be a commendable measure.”

In another request, Stalin sought approval for more flight operations between Singapore and Madurai as Singapore has a sizeable population of nearly 4 lakh persons of Tamil origin.

“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, Thiru K Shanmugham when he met me. A similar request was also raised by many members of the Tamil diaspora in Singapore. I would be grateful if the request to permit more flights between Singapore and Madurai is favourably considered,” the letter further read.