Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (EP)
Mangaluru, Aug 14: Mangaluru is the only international airport in the state other than the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru. However connectivity from the Mangaluru airport to overseas destinations is not free from hassles.
Though there are direct flights to Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dammam, Doha, Dubai, Kuwait and Muscat from Mangaluru, they do not operate on a daily basis.
But, there are no direct flights to Jeddah, Sharjah and several other places from Mangaluru where a large number of non-resident Indians live. Also, there is no direct air link to Singapore and Maldives.
Representational image
Direct flights to most countries from Mangaluru are not being operated at suitable times and as per the need. Given the number of international tourists flying from Mangaluru there are not many flights made available to Doha, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait. Though there are international airlines flying from Bengaluru and other international airports in the country, Mangaluru is deprived of facilities.
There is only one operational weekly flight to Kuwait from Mangaluru that too on a Sunday. As there are holidays on Friday and Saturday in Kuwait the
flight schedules do not suit passengers who wish to travel to Kuwait. It is possible to fly from Kuwait to Mangaluru via Mumbai but passengers have to wait for seven hours. Therefore non-resident Indians say that such flights operating from Mangaluru do not help them .
There are students arriving from abroad to the undivided Dakshina Kannada
district which is identified as an education hub. There are also people travelling overseas for jobs and tourism purposes. But relying on connecting flights and spending more waiting time in the airports and also shelling out more money seems inevitable. Airlines say that there is a scarcity of aircraft and it is difficult to obtain permission as per the agreement.
Scarcity of planes to fly inside the country
Mostly Indigo flights fly to New Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune from Mangaluru. Air India flies only to Mumbai. Also, there are no direct flights to other places. It was said that a new airline will be made available for Mangaluru airport. Though Go Air, Akasa, Vistara, Air Asia and other airlines have held discussions in this regard, none of them has reached a logical end.
There is a growing need to introduce additional flights to Colombo, Malaysia, Singapore, Maldives etc at least once a week to promote tourism. Airlines
will be requested in this regard, said Ganesh Kamath, president, Canara Organisation of Commerce and Industries.