Flying club to remain in city

The eight decades old Madras Flying Club (MFC) will not move out of the Chennai airport as feared, but will change location inside it , according to MFC sources. A few months ago, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had issued notice to MFC asking it to vacate its present premises at the airport to make way for the straightening of a taxi track from the new terminal to the end of runway.
The MFC was also asked to stop using the airstrip at Vellore, where the flying club trains its students since the Chennai terminal is busy for most part of the day. “We had no option but to close down the club. But when we approached the state government, it took it as a prestige issue and assured us that an alternative arrangement would be worked out with the AAI ,” said an MFC official. Following the government’s intervention the club will now be relocated to the other side of the runway near Porur, where AAI has been given free land by the state government for expansion.
09/12/11 Deccan Chronicle