Mysuru: Mysore Airport is getting busier by the day as the occupancy rate of the flights of both incoming and outgoing is going up every day and is touching as much as 80 percent to 90 percent in some of the flights. This has triggered a new interest among airlines keen to operate from the city.

The demand for flights from Mysuru started once Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha took interest and saw to it that under the UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagarik) scheme the flights were introduced and this saw a healthy rise in the occupancy rate over a period of time, said  R. Manjunath, Director, Mysore Airport, speaking to Star of Mysore.

The average occupancy rate of flights to Hyderabad is at 94 percent, while it was 86 percent in case of flights to Chennai. Occupancy rates of flights to Kochi and Goa introduced recently under UDAN 3 was also above 72 percent. All flights operating out of Mysuru are ATR type of planes with a capacity of 72 passengers, he said. However, the only region where there is not much occupancy is the Mysuru-Bengaluru flight which has seen an occupancy rate of just 53 percent, he added.

There are plans to introduce flights to Belagavi and Mangaluru after Dasara period and once the flights to these cities start operating then the average occupancy will go up further, he said. It is not only the local businessmen and industrialists who are flying out or landing in Mysore Airport but many tourists and other travellers are using the flights for quicker and easy reach, said Manjunath.

The reason for people choosing to fly to either Hyderabad, Chennai, Goa or Kochi is because many will catch connecting flights to other destinations that do not have direct access from Mysuru, he reasoned.

He also said that during this Dasara season, the occupancy rate could go up by another 15 to 20 percent as more tourist arrivals are expected.

However, what is confirmed is the introduction of three more flights once the winter timetable kicks in from October 27.

Indigo will operate a direct flight from Hyderabad to Mysuru and back while TruJet has a slot for a flight from Chennai to Mysuru. The same flight will connect the city with Belagavi giving the people of Mysuru and surrounding areas an easy and a convenient air link to the north Karnataka region, said Manjunath.

There are 10 flights operating out of Mysuru as on date and it is going to go up to 16 flights once three additional flights commence.