JOIN USAs preparations for ‘Nada Habba’ Dasara are on, the news of SpiceJet flight services from Mysore being permanently suspended from September 1 comes as a dampener.
SpiceJet, that was operating commercial flights from Mysore Airport at Mandakalli on Mysore-Nanjangud Road, is withdrawing its services.
The new development ahead of the maiden visit of Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation G M Siddeshwar to the airport, scheduled for August 3, has put the authorities concerned in a fix.
Raising the spectre of cancellation of air connectivity for good, the current operator has temporarily suspended the services for 14 days from July 28 to August 10, according to Director of Mysore Airport C N Manjunath.
However, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is hopeful of finding a solution during the forthcoming visit of the minister.
Manjunath said trouble began with the advancement of timings of services in June.
In the changed schedule, the aircraft (ATR type) arrived at 8.30 am and departed at 9 am, against the earlier 2.20 pm and 3.30 pm, respectively.
Barring a direct flight from Mysore to Chennai via Bangalore, the same flight was connecting to other destinations such as Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad.
During the earlier schedule, the response was good with a majority of 70 per cent occupancy in the 78-seater flight. It was also convenient for both short and long-distance travellers, with a large number of domestic and international flights departing from 5 pm onwards.
Once the timing was revised, the number of passengers began to dip. The timing was said to be inconvenient at Mysore Airport as most of the domestic and international flights begin their operations at the crack of dawn.
In the days that followed, as and when the number of passengers for the day receded, the service was cancelled.
SpiceJet had been resuming its service whenever there was a surge in ticket sales. Now, the airline has cancelled flights up to August 10 with the promise of resuming services from August 11, Manjunath added.
SpiceJet launched the commercial flight service from Mysore Airport on January 14, 2012, as a Sankranti gift. By starting the operations, Mysore Airport was also back on the air map, after Kingfisher, that was earlier offering the service, had suspended the operation.
Initially, the flight was available on alternate days, and later changed to throughout the week.
In the recent months, barring Tuesday and Saturday, the flight was operated from Mysore Airport on the remaining days of the week.