Salem Airport (India)

Salem Airport is a domestic airport serving the city of Salem, along with neighboring cities of Erode and Karur, in Tamil Nadu, India. It is located at Kamalapuram in Omalur taluk, 19 km north-west from the city centre. It was the sixth-busiest airport in Tamil Nadu after Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai, and Tuticorin airports. It is also the fifth-largest airport in Tamil Nadu in terms of runway length.

History
The airport was constructed in April 1993 at a cost of inr 60000000, covering an area of 136 acres, which was extensively donated by local traders and industrialists. A total of around ₹ 50 lakh, including ₹ 30 lakh, was funded by Salem Steel Plant. Originally, it was planned for Vayudoot to begin flight services, using small aircraft and conceived with a 1,350-metre runway, it was later expanded by another 600 meters to accommodate bigger planes. Initially, NEPC Airlines operated flights to Chennai and Coimbatore via Salem, using Fokker F-27 aircraft. However, the airline withdrew the service only after three months, citing non-viability as the reason. The airport laid in disuse since then, as no airline was willing to invest in this sector. Although the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had spruced up the airport and made it ready for operation, airlines did not show interest to fly, fearing low patronage. In 2006, Air Deccan agreed to begin its Salem operations, but only if the local industry deposited at least ₹ 90 lakh or gave a commitment for 50% bookings. Meanwhile, Air Deccan merged with Kingfisher Airlines. Kingfisher Airlines did provide a service to Chennai, but terminated the service in 2012 owing to its financial problems.

After a 3-year wait and prolonged negotiations, Kingfisher Airlines resumed daily flights to Chennai using its ATR aircraft on 15 November 2009. The service was withdrawn again on 28 October 2011, due to its financial problem. At last, flight service commenced again from the airport to Chennai under the government's UDAN Scheme in March 2018, this time by TruJet.

G. K. Chaukiyal, executive director (UDAN-RCS) at Airports Authority of India (AAI), in an e-mail message to the President of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Salem, stated that the Hyderabad-based Turbo Megha Airways Private Limited had intimated the AAI of commencing flight services from Salem in the first week of December 2018. Air Odisha was also likely to commence operations from the airport by the middle of February in the following year. The AAI had already signed Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with these airlines. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has changed the status of the airport to “served airport” from “underserved and unserved” status, to enable introduction of flight services in March 2018, as a major development.

The only commercial passenger flight to Chennai operated by TruJet, was suspended after the airline was shutdown due to bankruptcy in June 2021. Since then, the airport remained inoperative, until when in September 2023, Alliance Air announced to restart flight operations from the airport by beginning flights to Bangalore and Kochi, from 16 October 2023, under the UDAN 5.0 Scheme. IndiGo has started flights from the airport to Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad from October 2023. Also, Indigo makes connections to over 83 domestic and 11 International destinations, from Salem via Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.

Structure
The airport has one runway, oriented 04/22, and is 6,000 feet long. Its 200 by 75-meter apron is capable of handling 4 ATR-72 type aircraft and 2 Airbus A320 type aircraft. Its terminal building can cater to 100 passengers. Navigational facilities at the runway include Very high frequency (VHF) radio, Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI), and a Non-directional beacon (NDB).

Flight training centres
The excellent conditions prevailing at the airport are highly suitable for flight training. The airport is now the hotspot for the establishment of flight training and pilot training centers in southern India. Given the state of the art infrastructure available here, it is an ideal training airport and base for aspiring pilots. The flight training organisation (FTO) "Ekvi Air" has started functioning from August 2023 at Salem and now is the only licensed FTO in Tamil Nadu, out of 36 FTOs in India.

Expansion
The Government of Tamil Nadu has issued orders for the expansion of the airport by acquiring an additional 570 acres of land from the nearby villages of Sikkanampatti, Thumbipadi, Pottiyapuram, and Kamalapuram, mostly for the expansion of the runway from 1,806 m (6,000 ft) to 2,438 m (8,000 ft) to handle larger aircraft like the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 types, and in the future to make it capable of serving the Boeing 777 and Airbus A350 types. The existing runway can570 only handle ATR-72 type aircraft. More facilities have been planned to be added to make it at par with large international airports, such as a warehouse and a hangar to provide maintenance to larger aircraft, covering an area of around 100 acres. The newly proposed expansion falls under the UDAN Scheme, an initiative jointly funded by the Government of India and state governments across India that aims to 'let the common citizen fly'.

The expansion is mainly viewed for the operation of more flights to major and further destinations in India and abroad, like Delhi, Mumbai and for the night parking facility of aircraft from Bangalore and Chennai. At present the airport is equipped to park four ATR-type aircraft or two A320s.

Land acquisition protests
Protests have been going on against the expansion of the airport since 2010, when the then state government started acquisition of land. The villagers forcibly stopped the survey and even held the team of officials in hostage for some time.

On 27 April 2018, hundreds of farmers and their family members laid siege to the Salem collectorate to protest against land acquisition for airport expansion in the city. The primary reason for the protest has been the safeguarding of the land and livelihoods. The proposed expansion of the airport requires 567 acres of land. The main reason for this protest is that if 570 acres of fertile lands are acquired, then their livelihoods would be ruined, and due to long distance from the city centre, they requested that instead of using thousands of acres of land, the land could be chosen which is more available and more easily accessible within 10 to 15 kilometres from the city centre. The land for the initial airport was acquired in 1989 from the parents and grandparents of those protesting now. When the Salem district administration began formalities to acquire lands for expansion, the farmers and the residents strongly opposed it. They also urged the district administration and the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, to drop the survey, even as they were assured of huge amounts in compensation.

On 19 June 2018, activists including Piyush Manush and Mansoor Ali Khan were arrested for protesting against the airport expansion.

Future
As the airport is too small to be expanded further due to rise in urban growth around it and issues, as well as protests from people and farmers, towards acquiring land for expansion and development, it has been considered to build a new airport for the city. There are area constraints too, where two areas–the steel plant area of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and the magnesite mining area of Tamil Nadu Magnesite Limited (TANMAG)–own more than a thousand acres of land each.


 * The Salem Steel Plant has a total area of 4,000 acres of land out of which 2,500 acres of land are not on use. This area is easily accessible from the city center.
 * The Tamil Nadu Magnesite Limited (TANMAG) has over 17 km2 (4,200 acres) of land in Jagirammapalayam, Vellakalpatti, Thathayangarpatti, Senkaradu, Chettichavadi, and Kurumbapatti villages, which were used for mining activities, are now kept unused for a long time after the company stopped the mining in the magnesite mine, located close to the newly proposed bus port. This site would be more feasible because of the availability of vast area land, and can be used for further expansion also.

The Airports Authority of India has already stated that even if the land is acquired for current airport also, its runway would have to be broken down, and a new runway would be built, which would cost almost the same as building a new airport. This is also the reason why farmers and protestors are opposing the expansion of current airport and requesting the officials to stop the acquisition and change the location of the airport.

New routes
Flight services resumed now from October 2023 to Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Cochin.

Lok Sabha member S. R. Parthiban stated that new routes from the airport would be added soon.


 * Salem to Tirupathi
 * Salem to Shirdi

IndiGo makes connections to 82 destinations from Salem via above mentioned metros.

There is high demand from various trading associations and business fraternities to commence night landing facilities and additional flights to Chennai from Salem Airport.

Connectivity
The airport is located on National Highway 44 (NH-44), about 19 km from the Central Bus Terminus. Frequent bus services are available from the Town Bus Terminus and also from the central bus terminus via Omalur. The airport is 17 km from the major railway station, Salem Junction, and the nearest railway stations are Omalur Junction railway station and Karuppur railway station. Cab services, call taxis and auto rickshaws provide 24 hours commuting services to the airport.