Mysuru-Bengaluru flights from June 7

Finally, the long-pending demand for air services from Mysuru to Bengaluru will be a reality.

Now, Air India’s subsidiary Alliance Air will start flights between Mysuru and Bengaluru under the Regional air connectivity scheme - Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN). Lok Sabha member Prathap Simha will launch the services on June 7.

According to the service provider, Flight AI 9539, with a seating capacity of 70, will operate five days a week, except on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with special economy seats at Rs 1,365 and super value economy class ticket at Rs 1,589, initially.

It has to be recalled that several attempts to run the air services between Mysuru and Bengaluru due to poor passenger response - attributed to several reasons - such as proximity of Mysuru with Bengaluru.

The time taken to travel from Mysuru to the airport at Mandakalli, plus the flight duration, and the time taken to reach Bengaluru city from Kempegowda International Airport were the deterrants.

At present, Trujet is operating Mysuru-Chennai-Hyderabad flight for the past one and half years and service is receiving good response.

Trujet flights, which began under UDAN scheme on September 20, 2017, had stopped services on November 16, 2017, due to operational problems. However, the services resumed on November 21 the same year. Under UDAN, six aircraft were supposed to fly between Mysuru and other five cities. However, it did not take off.

Kingfisher Airways introduced the first service in March 2010, but suspended it in October 2011 due to poor response.

SpiceJet introduced flights in January 2013 and stopped the operations in October 2014. Alliance Air operated services for a few days between Bengaluru and Mysuru in 2015.

MP Prathap Simha said that the extension work on the Mysuru Airport runway will commence soon. “Once the runway is extended, bigger flights can land in the city,” he said.