Singapore-Trichy air traffic soars 22% over pre-Covid level in 2023

Trichy: Tamil Nadu’s strengthening bond with Singapore as a destination of employment and leisure seems to have been largely unaffected by the Covid-19 pandemic going by the continuing surge in air traffic to and from that country. Passenger traffic between Trichy, which caters to the central districts, and Singapore reached the highest ever of 5.26 lakh during 2023, about 22% more than the 4.31 lakh in 2019.The sector now accounts for 41.08% of the international passenger traffic at Trichy airport.
It was Air India Express which launched its maiden service between the two cities 17 years ago (March 2007). At present, there are five daily flights between the cities, two each operated by Air India Express and Scoot Airlines and one by IndiGo. According to the annual report of Singapore’s Changi airport, Trichy traffic constituted 0.89% of the 58.9 million passengers it handled in 2023. A large number of Tamils are employed in the construction sector in Singapore and most of them are based in central Tamil Nadu. More tourists started to travel to Singapore as the country is a transit for multiple countries like Australia, Indonesia, Thailand.

It may be recalled that chief minister M K Stalin, during his visit to the country in May 2023, had announced that a monument for former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew will be built at Mannargudi in Tiruvarur district. A majority of Tamils living in Singapore hail from Mannargudi and Pattukottai in Thanjavur district.
“Till 2007, there were no flights to Singapore from Trichy and people used to travel via Chennai. I remember having paid Rs 40,000 for my first trip to Singapore from Chennai by Indian Airlines. Since it was expensive, people used to visit their home town only once a year,” says K Mythili, an IT professional in Singapore and native of Namakkal district. With the launch of the budget airline, Tiger Airways, in 2010, fares became cheaper and people started travelling regularly,” she said. A return ticket to Singapore costs about Rs 20,000 today.
Travel agents say December - January is the peak season in the sector when people visit their native place for Christmas, New Year and Pongal. Tour operators announce special packages while Sabarimala devotees visiting Kerala also travel via Trichy. Airport director P Subramani said that of the five daily flights, two are A321 aircraft with 236 seats each. The number of passengers who flew between Trichy and Singapore in December alone was an all-time high of 54,298, with 85.67% seat occupancy.
“Trichy was the only destination available to travel to India from Singapore during the lockdown. Those travelling even to Hyderabad and Bengaluru found it convenient to travel to their hometowns via Trichy,” H Ubaidullah, an aviation analyst, said.