Plans for Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 to land in City Airport
By S.T. Ravikumar
Mysore/Mysuru: While a proposal has been floated to establish a new International Airport near Srirangapatna as a parallel airport to Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru, new development works at the Mandakalli Airport in Mysuru have picked up pace to attract more air travellers.
Elaborating on the new development projects, Mysore Airport Director R. Manjunath said that a new Railway Under Bridge will come up on the right side of the Airport building for more accessibility. This under bridge will provide easy access to the Airport and also help evacuate people from the building in case of emergencies. The Detailed Project Report (DPR) has already been prepared and tenders will be floated soon after approvals, he added.
Runway Expansion
On the Airport runway expansion plans where around 300 acres of land near Mandakalli is required to expand the runway to 7,900 feet and 45 metres, Manjunath said that the process to acquire land is already on.
At present the Mandakalli Airport has a single runway of 5,700 feet in length which is only suitable for ATR planes providing short-haul flight operations.
The existing airport is spread over 490 acres and under the expansion project, the length of the runway will be increased to 7,900 feet and 45 metres width that allows jet aircraft such as Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 to land at Mysore Airport.
“We have given thrust to overall development of the Airport and have new fuel tanks, enhanced security and new toilet complex. In future too, development works will be taken up and once the runway is expanded, the face of the existing airport will change to sport a bigger, safe and convenient place to land and depart,” Manjunath added.
Selfie point at Mysore Airport
Among the measures taken by Mysuru unit of Airports Authority of India and the Tourism Department in Mysuru is a selfie point that will come up near the flag post at Mysore Airport. The selfie point will be shaped in the form of ‘M’ and will be in the form of a tusker, representing the Golden Howdah-carrying elephant during the Dasara Vijayadashami procession. Letters ‘MYSURU’ will be a part of the selfie spot.
The selfie spot has been identified and the replica of the selfie spot too is ready and has been colourfully designed, Mysore Airport Director R. Manjunath told Star of Mysore. The Airport is encouraging the heritage concept of Ambari that is a pride of Mysuru, he said.
The selfie spot will be 15 ft in length and 9 ft in height and has been designed by mysuru.org and Sowjanya Prabhu from Mankutimma Studios, free of cost. The initiative has been launched with the support of Mysuru Tourism Department Deputy Director H.P. Janardhan, he added. The attractive selfie spot will be inaugurated in a week or two depending on the schedule of Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha, he added.
‘Selfie spot!’ can anything get more narcissistic than this? The reporter has spent three paragraphs to highlight something that has nothing to do with the airport, the subject of this article.
Is there a need to highlight this ‘selfie spot’ when all it does is create unhealthy encouragement for people to ‘line-up’ at this installation? Do we realize how such vapid instruments cause trouble for users of the airport (arrive/depart) and simultaneously an unhealthy psychological stress for young adults and kids? Kids that may be encouraged to visit such transport nodes to learn about aircraft and their associated infrastructure should be focusing on the ‘airport’ and not on getting their pictures taken at this sign. Please do not promote what self obsessed cultures that center around ‘I/Me’ and the harmful notion that to be ‘seen’ by others as having done something or been somewhere, is an acheivement.
Let the focus of these articles highlight the convenience and the other nuances this mode of transportation along with all its supporting infrastructure brings. The space taken by those three ‘poor-taste’ paragraphs would have been better served with a graphic of current runway, it’s geographic alignment along with the proposed lengthened runway and change of direction, if any. That would add value to the reader even with out being at the airport and would add value when they do visit to understand design and impact. Being at the airport and undestanding how it works is more important than being ‘seen’ at the airport in front of a ‘selfie-point’!
Having recently read how the paper started with humble beginnings and with a noble purpose, I encourage the editor to review ‘Star of Mysore’ articles more thoroughly so such unfit material does not take away from the true value of this newspaper. Thank you for the high standards that Star of Mysore, aims to maintain.
Reading this article, one wonders why this paper gives so much importance to the “selfie point”, devoting three paragraphs. There are much more important aspects of the airport and the proposed expansion plans. This article could have eloborated on the “runway over road bridge” which was proposed earlier and also other aspects of change when trying to attract bigger jets.