Air connectivity to and from Mysuru has been reduced to just two cities since the last two months and even the winter schedule of the flights valid from October 29, 2023 to March 30, 2024 announced by the Director General of Civil Aviation, has not given an additional slot to the city.
While Hyderabad and Chennai continue to be connected to Mysuru, the flight to Goa which used to fly with near-full passenger occupancy has also been withdrawn much to the chagrin of the local people.
While questions have been raised about the wisdom of airport expansion under such a scenario, the Mysuru Airport Director J.R. Anoop said that withdrawal of services have nothing to do with passenger traffic. He said the passenger traffic potential of Mysuru is proven across different sectors and there is demand for more.
‘’The issue is rejigging and redeployment of ATR aircrafts by the flight operators and these short-haul carriers with a maximum capacity of 72 passengers are not economical to operate compared to A320 etc. But the Mysuru airport cannot handle aircrafts like A320 at this juncture due to short runway of 1,740 metres and hence, expansion of the airport and the runway to 2,450 metres which is being taken up will change the scenario in future,’’ he added.
Besides, the flight to Goa is likely to be restored sometime in December as Alliance Air has sought a slot and the DGCA has given clearance. It is now up to the aircraft operators to resume the services, Mr. Anoop added.
Mysuru airport handles four flights a day — both inbound and outbound — on 3 days a week and they connect to Chennai and Hyderabad. On the remaining four days, the Mysuru airport handles 6 flights – both inbound and outbound – and it includes two flights to Hyderabad and one flight to Chennai.
The bulk of the passengers use Hyderabad for their onward connectivity to Delhi, Kolkata or other places for onward journey. Apart from convenience of connectivity from Hyderabad, some of the regular fliers prefer to avoid the tedious journey of driving to Bengaluru, said Mr. Anup.
Notwithstanding the temporary hiccup in reduced connectivity, the airport expansion plan is on course as the previous government led by Basavaraj Bommai had earmarked ₹319.13 crore for the project in April 2022 and released two tranches of ₹50 crore and ₹100 crore. This was followed by the release of another ₹75 crore by the Siddaramaiah Government some time ago towards land acquisition.
A few members of the Mysuru Airport Advisory Committee justified investment in airport expansion and said the city was already witnessing a steady trickle in investments and this will increase with a full-fledged functional airport and justified the investment.
Apart from tourism, the bulk of the passenger segment will be from the business establishments and industries whose numbers are steadily on the rise, the advisory committee members added.
