Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin wrote to the Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotindra Scindia asking for the direct flight between Tokyo and Chennai to be reintroduced. A direct flight between the two cities was launched in 2019 by All Nippon Airways but was discontinued during the pandemic and never resumed. In his letter MK Stalin said that the lack of direct flights between Tokyo and Chennai increases the duration of the travel by at least seven hours. The Chief Minister also said that there have been several demands by the Japanese business community in the state for direct flights to their country.
MK Stalin also said that similar requests have been made by the Tamil diaspora in Singapore. According to The Hindu, the Chief Minister said that a lot of Tamil people travel to Singapore for their work, especially from southern Tamil Nadu but there is only a tri-weekly flight from Madurai to Singapore. He said that this issue was brought to his attention by Minister for Home Affairs and Law of the Government of Singapore K Shanmugham. Citing this reason, the Chief Minister asked for the number of flights between Madurai and Singapore to be increased.
MK Stalin was returning from his official trip to Japan and Singapore and invited investors to participate in the Global Investors Meet that is scheduled to take place in Chennai in January 2024.