Mysore airport likely to get another flight service

AirCosta has agreed to provide services from the city

The city, which got back its air connectivity a year ago through a private flight service, is likely to get another service by this summer. According to Mysore Airport officials, domestic service provider AirCosta has agreed to provide services from Mysore.

Confirming this to Deccan Herald, C N Manjunath, Director of Mysore Airport, said, two weeks ago, officials from the private service provider had visited the Mysore Airport, situated at Mandakalli. He said, they have shown interest in Mysore, which is in demand for air connectivity.

“They had asked the Mysore Airport Authority to submit details about the runway capacity. As per their request we have mailed to them all details about the facilities available and runway specifications of the airport. If all goes well, the heritage city would get another service by the end of this summer and hopefully cater to the demand of morning services,” he said.

Though stakeholders and businessmen from the city demanded the current service provider Spicejet to commence a morning flight to Bangalore and other destinations, there has been no positive response.

Manjunath said, the service providers tried to make a strategy to ‘reshuffle’, but learnt that it would affect the entire timing and incur additional costs to the company.

“If the demand was to be met, they had to change the entire slot to which Spicejet was not ready,” he added.

Manjunath, commenting on the resumption of the Bangalore-Mysore daily flight services recently, stated that inbound and outbound passenger numbers have gone up from 50 per cent to 70 per cent, and it’s ‘full’ during weekends.

“It is a good sign that more and more people are opting for air travel. The response may increase in the coming days,” he said.

He said, despite growing demand, Spicejet had made no attempts to popularise its Mysore service through either advertisements or hoardings. “There is no single hoarding across highways to create awareness about the services. We had asked them erect hoardings in Mysore, Kodagu and Chamarajanagar districts, but nothing has been done, he added.