Mysuru: The good news is that the commercial flight operations from Mysuru Airport will resume from Sept. 20. However, with a lull in the flight operations for almost two years, (the flights, which began on Sept. 3, 2015 ended on November 17, 2015) the resumption assumes significance.

The first flight of the no frills airline TruJet of Turbo Megha Airways will land in Mysuru on Sept. 20 at 6.40 pm.

On its return journey, the Mysuru-Chennai-Hyderabad flight will leave Mysuru Airport at 7.05 am. This is part of the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagarik) scheme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

All preparations are going on in full swing at the Mysuru Airport (popularly referred to as Mandakalli Airport) and as part of the normal, routine cleaning operations, the Mysuru Airport in association with the Forest Department began the combing operations yesterday from 8 am and ended at 1.30 pm.

“This is a routine cleaning up drive, which we take up with the Forest Department regularly. But, as the flight operations are resuming from Sept. 20, we had to be extra cautious as we had seen a few animals straying into the vast airport area.

Hence, we had launched combing operations, yesterday,” said Manoj Kumar Singh, Airport Director speaking to Star of Mysore this morning.

Nearly 100 staff of the Forest Department and volunteers led by DCF V. Yedakondalu, RFO Devaraju and Veterinarian Dr. D. N. Nagaraju combed the place for wild boars and jackals, which had strayed into the airport area.

They drove away nearly 8 to 10 wild boars and 7 to 8 jackals across the railway track by opening the railway gate, which was closed and locked later.

There was also wild growth of shrubs and vegetation in the airport area, which was also cleared by the department.

“To resume the operations we have to follow four or five steps as a precautionary measure and one of them is clearing the area and keeping the place abutting the runway and taxiway fully sanitised.

We also have to prepare the airport for all functions to see that the aircraft lands and takes-off smoothly,” said Singh.

Asked about the bookings on the first day, he said that there were lot of bookings, but had to be confirmed by the TruJet officials as they are the ones who handle all flight ticket bookings.

Wildlife Trust of India (WTI)  Assistant Manager Nagaraj Bhat, Prafulla of an NGO and others also participated in the combing operations.