Indo Asian News
Bangalore, Oct 7 (IANS) Air India Express, the low-cost airline of the national carrier, will soon operate a daily flight on the Dubai-Mangalore route to fly in hundreds of Indian expats living in the Gulf who hail from the coastal districts of Karnataka and Kerala.
With the formal inauguration of a direct service to Mangalore Tuesday by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, AI Express has begun operating three flights a week from Dubai and will extend it into a daily service from Nov 1.
'The launch of a direct flight from Dubai makes the Bajpe airport at Mangalore the second destination in Karnataka to operate international flights after Bangalore. Besides AI Express, we are expecting Al Jazeera, a low-cost Kuwaiti airliner, to fly into Mangalore after it is granted landing rights by the government,' Mangalore airport director M V Vasudeva told IANS on phone.
Currently, AI operates a Boeing 737-800 Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday on both directions, carrying about 185 passengers in each flight. The service enables expats, their relatives and business and leisure travellers to fly into Mangalore directly saving time and money.
'The direct service meets a long-pending demand of the non-resident Indians (NRIs) from this coastal region living in the Gulf, as they had to reach Mangalore earlier either from Mumbai or Bangalore by a connecting flight, train or bus,' Vasudeva said.
According to the Mangalore Chambers of Commerce & Industry, there are about 200,000 NRIs from the coastal districts of Karnataka and Kerala living in the Gulf, with about 80,000 of them flying in and out annually.
'The response to the direct service has been very encouraging from the Gulf NRIs as well as their folks back home. We are told by the A-I Express that flights in both directions have already been booked till Jan, with a few seats remaining for Feb. With a daily service from next month, we expect the international passenger traffic to double from next year,' Vasudeva said.
Though the airport in the coastal city has been in operation over a decade, catering to domestic passengers with eight-ten flights from Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai daily by Indian and other private airlines, the civil aviation ministry has decided to expand its facilities with an extended runway to land wide-bodied jets.
'The Airport Authority of India (AAI), which is operating the airport, will build an integrated terminal building in the next 18 months at an estimated cost of Rs 1.47 billion. With night-landing facility installed and commissioned recently, the airport is geared up to operate domestic as well as international flights after sunset,' Vasudeva pointed out.
The AAI is also planning to throw open the airport for cargo flights once the customs and security authorities make the arrangements with a warehouse and clearance facilities. As a major centre for marine, petrochemical, food-processing and agro products, the airport is strategically located to drive exports from the region.
'With the Indian monsoons being a favourite past-time of the Arabs in the Gulf, direct flights by A-I Express and other Gulf airlines will benefit the tourism and hospitality sectors on the west coast.
Besides Mumbai and Goa (Panjim), Arab tourists can choose to watch the monsoon rains from Mangalre, which has an annual rainfall of over 100-120 inches of rainfall annually,' Vasudeva added.
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