Now commuters prefer Expressway or Vande Bharat Express to reach Bengaluru within two hours
Mysore/Mysuru: There has been no Mysuru-Bengaluru flight since Nov. 2022 (exactly from Oct. 31, 2022), leaving the sector in limbo. At present, the Mysore Airport handles flights only to four destinations — Hyderabad, Chennai (two flights), Goa and Hubballi. Even the Mysuru-Belagavi flight has been cancelled.
Meanwhile, Alliance Air, the regional arm of Air India, has announced twice-a-week (Wednesdays and Sundays) direct flight service between Mysuru and Sindhudurg Airport in Maharashtra from tomorrow. [See report on page 6]
Earlier, Alliance Air operated flights between Mysuru-Bengaluru connecting Kochi (Cochin).
The Alliance Air flight from Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru to Cochin International Airport was diverted to Mysuru for the convenience of Mysuru-Bengaluru travellers and commuters to Kerala.
However, due to poor response, the operator cancelled the Mysuru route. Now the route is treated as a direct flight from KIA in Bengaluru to Cochin.
Sources from Mysore Airport told Star of Mysore this morning that all bookings were cancelled on the Mysuru-Bengaluru route after Oct. 31, 2022. Though the airlines operated well within the scheduled timings, there has been a lack of response for the Mysuru route.
Except for some businessmen from Kerala in Mysuru, there were not many takers for the flight. Even the Bengaluru-Mysuru section of this aircraft received a lukewarm response, sources added.
Airport sources said that the future demand for the Mysuru-Bengaluru sector is unlikely as many travellers will prefer the Mysuru-Bengaluru Expressway or travel in fast trains like Shatabdi and Vande Bharat Express to reach Bengaluru.
“Flyers from Mysuru city will spend a lot of time to reach the Mysore Airport at Mandakalli and then take a flight to Bengaluru. By the time they reach the Airport from the city, they can as well reach Maddur or Ramanagara, cruising on the Expressway or in the Vande Bharat Express. Moreover, after landing at the Kempegowda International Airport, they will have to spend another hour or more to reach any part of Bengaluru city,” sources reasoned.
The 19 seater Dornier 228 made in india aircraft should be used on the route Mysuru-Bengaluru-Tirupati . Filling up a 19 seater aircraft to Tirupati might not be a problem for AllianceAir , The other route can be Mysuru-Bengaluru-Pondicherry . Both flights can be one in morning and one in evening with same aircraft so there will be air connectivity with Bengaluru daily in the morning and evening .
If they had hired anyone with brain, they would have said this long back. All the complex check-in security processes are not worth the short journey. Only the people who wish to go to Bangalore airport directly or arrive at Bangalore airport and then come directly to Mysore will take a flight. The rest will use cabs, trains, and buses.
Alliance Air has the main objective of providing regional connectivity. Suspending flights arbitrarily claiming poor response in one of the sectors of a three sector flight (Bangalore-Mysore-Cochin-Agathi) is quite unacceptable. Moreover, Alliance Air needs to provide the general public the occupancy details of the flights that are withdrawn. Cochin – Mysore sector was running successfully and if the Bangalore- Mysore sector was having poor response, the Cochin- Mysore sector should have been re-routed. Bangalore- Cochin sector has more than 30 flights daily and Alliance Air opted to add yet another flight in that sector, little realising their commitment to providing regional connectivity and our Hon. PM’s initiatives in this regard. It is high time a performance audit of Alliance Air is done and corrective measures taken before it is too late. Alliance Air should immediately restore Mysore-Cochin sector by properly scheduling their flights instead of misleading the public with incorrect data. Mysore deserves adequate air connectivity and wish our elected representatives also look into this.
Mysore city to Mandakalli airport is 10 kms, maximum 25 minutes. How can one reach Ramnagar? What a misleading article. Please improve the connectivity to metros, restore old
routes and start connectivity to other metros as well.
Hey posters
:Kini the usual mantra of tourism.
@Poulose You are a Keralite who in the past wanted connectivity to Mysore, road, train and air. Why? Yes, I get it your Kerala CM want many of you to relocated to Mysore!
Mysore city to Mandakalli airport is 25 min, I agree. But why don’t you consider that we should reach the airport atleast an hour earlier for check in/security procedures. And then from Bengaluru airport to any part of Bengaluru is a minimum of 40-50min away. Only those who have connecting flights from Bengaluru airport use this flight, or those who are landing in Bengaluru from other airport use this flight. I have been on this flight on multiple occasions, and I could hardly see good occupancy in this flight. Most of the time I could see just 8-10 passengers in this flight.
I had travelled to Mysore from Mumbai via Bangalore on few occasions before Covid lockdown and later also. But every time I found that the flight from Bangalore and Mysore was full not even a single seat was vacant.
Probably after changing the flight timings the response must be poor.
Morning 9.00 am flight from Bangalore & evening from Mysore may not be a correct decision by the operators.