JOIN USThe ‘King of Good Times’ started operating flights in and out of the heritage city from Mandakalli Airport located on the Mysore-Nanjangud Road in October 2010.
With reports of a precarious financial situation, it could well be quite long before the company gets its act together.
The frequency of flights, scheduled six days a week, was increased to cover all the seven days. The flights carried passengers from Bangalore with almost 75 per cent occupancy on 66 or 72-seater planes.
The Kingfisher Red flight, with fares starting from Rs 2,300, flew mostly industrialists, businesspeople, a small share of members from the IT industry, and tourists.
The flight left Bangalore airport at 12 noon to reach Mysore within 40 minutes, and left Mysore at 2.10 pm and landed in the capital city within 3 pm.
Low occupancy
The outbound (from Mysore to Bangalore) occupancy was said to be low, when compared to the inbound trip.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, sources at the Airport Authority of India said the last Kingfisher Red flight departed from Mysore to Bangalore on Monday.
On Tuesday, they received a letter stating the flights for ‘winter schedule’ were cancelled, which in the sector lingo is the time between October and March. Hence, till the end of the first quarter of 2012, there are no chances of the Kingfisher flights connecting the two cities.
The clueless ground staff, numbering about 10, however, continue to work at the airport, perhaps taking reservations for other flying routes of Kingfisher.
According to AAI authorities, two companies - Spicejet and Jet Airways - had evinced interest in the past to fly between Bangalore and Mysore. But, not much progress took place on that front.
The airport, which was completed in Septemer 2009, had taken exactly a year to seem an attractive destination for companies to fly to connect Bangalore and Mysore.
It may be a mere coincidence that the airport, which received its first passenger flight in October 2010, has again fallen silent a year later.
The charter planes continue to keep the tarmac occupied while Mysore scouts for the next player.