Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Mangalore, May 23 : Mangalore Airport has witnessed a quantum jump in its passenger handling with a growth of nearly 20% for the first four months of 2012.

Airport Director M R Vasudeva says that Mangalore airport handled 3.21 lakh passengers in the first four months of 2012 as against the 2.68 lakh passengers it handled during the same period last year.    The growth is attributed to connectivity to newer locations and more flights resulting in more passenger volume.
 
Vasudeva said there are direct flights from Mangalore to Hyderabad and Chennai which has led to the growth of passenger traffic. Besides this there is an additional flight from Mangalore to Mumbai by Air India Express. “Earlier Air India Express flight coming from Dubai used to be parked at the airport whole day.  To make the best use of the facility Air India Express has scheduled a regular flight to Mumbai.  With these additional operations passenger traffic has witnessed  quantum jump in the first four months of this year.    
 
Out of the total passengers handled at Mangalore airport 86,544 were international passengers for the first four months of this year, which comes to 27% of the total passengers handled at this station.  As of now Mangalore Airport has flights to most of the gulf countries.  The flow of international passengers would have been much higher but for the lack of competitive price available from Mangalore, says Vasudeva.  He further adds:  “Due to lack of competitive pricing which many airlines offer from Mumbai or Cochin most passengers prefer to fly from these destinations which has affected our international passenger traffic”. 
 
When asked whether declaring Mangalore as an International airport would enable more airlines to be connected with Mangalore, he said that such a status has nothing to do with connectivity of more airlines.  Even with the present status of Mangalore Airport as a customs aerodrome different airlines can operate from here without any hindrances.  The only criterion is that these airlines have to request the government to allow them to operate to international destinations, which would lead to a considerable increase in the passenger traffic at Mangalore airport, he stated.