Surtis have long nursed a grouse that despite being a business hub, the city has poor air connectivity to other centres. A women’s outfit supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is now planning to draw attention to the problem by initiating various protest programmes. Members of the wing claim the city is deliberately being deprived of flight linkages.
SpiceJet started operating out of the city this year, but the ground situation has not changed much. SpiceJet, which has daily flights, connects Surat to only Mumbai and Delhi. Indian, which operates six days a week, has flights only between Delhi and Surat.
With a strong market for Surat’s textiles in the southern states, traders who want to go to Bangalore, Hyderabad or Chennai are forced to take trains. Diamond merchants have also long demanded more flights to Delhi and Mumbai. But there doesn’t seem to be much hope with no new airline entering the market, nor existing airlines starting additional flights.
The Modi Samarthak Mahila Mandal – a newly launched women’s wing supported by the BJP is – planning to step up pressure on airlines to put the spotlight on the issue.
“We will begin with a token hunger strike, followed by other protest programmes. Our sole aim is to bring more flights to Surat, which is badly needed for its growth,” said Ujjwala Nikam, president of the wing.
Alleging the Centre and the Maharashtra government’s hand, Nikam said they did not want Surat to pose any competition to Mumbai. As Surtis form a big chunk of national and international passengers travelling from Mumbai, it would lose that business if direct flights were started from the diamond city.
C R Patil, Member of Parliament (Navsari), claimed that besides passengers, there was opportunity for cargo business from Surat too. Despite being aware of this, airlines were not interesting in improving connectivity, he said.
“At a time when airline companies are looking for business options to improve their financial situation, it is surprising that airlines don’t want to enter Surat,” said Patil, hinting that everyone knew the real reasons for Surat lagging on the air connectivity front.
