Arrival in Mysuru from Chennai: 8.10 am; Departure: 8.30 am; Reaching Chennai: 10 am

Mysuru: A series of flights that operate from Mysore Airport under Modi Government’s Ude Desh ka Aam Nagarik (UDAN) scheme to Kochi, Bengaluru, Goa, Hyderabad and Chennai has inspired more flights to operate from the Heritage City. 

For the first time, a non-UDAN aircraft operated by TruJet will start a flight to Chennai from tomorrow (Nov.15). The ATR 72 aircraft will be put into service considering an increased demand from passengers for a plane to fly between Mysuru and Chennai in the morning. As of now, there is only one flight to Chennai in the evening. 

The TruJet flight (2T 209) will arrive at Mysore Airport in Mandakalli at 8.10 am after leaving Chennai Airport at 6.50 am. The same flight will take off from Mysuru at 8.30 am and reach Chennai at 10 am. Sources said that ever since the UDAN flight started operating from Mysuru to Chennai in the evening, the response was good with more than 85 percent occupancy rate. 

Non-UDAN flight

The new morning flight to Chennai will not come under UDAN scheme and will not take any subsidy from the Government. Online bookings have begun and it will be a boon to businessmen and regular travellers. 

Now, there are six flights from Mysore Airport to Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Goa, Chennai and Kochi by TruJet, Alliance Air and Indigo Airline. With the new flight added to Chennai, the Mysore Airport will operate seven flights from morning till evening. 

New lease of life

UDAN bolsters regional connectivity under “Connecting India,” and for Mysuru, it has provided a new lease of life to the Airport at Mandakalli that was once a grazing land for cattle five years ago. Many flights are operating from Mysuru thanks to the consistent efforts of Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha. 

Sources said that the occupancy rate of the flights of both incoming and outgoing is going up every day and is touching as much as 75 to 85 percent, triggering a new interest among airlines keen to operate from Mysuru.

Belagavi and Shirdi

TruJet has evinced keen interest in operating daily flights to Belagavi from Mysuru and Indigo has expressed interest in operating flights to spiritual destination Shirdi via Bengaluru. Indigo wants to target passengers from Mysuru and Bengaluru who visit Shirdi. This service is likely to begin in November end. 

Also, TruJet flight to Belagavi is targeted at businessmen and this flight is likely to be operated from second week of December, sources added. This will be a boon to industrialists as they can take connecting flights to different destinations from Belagavi. 

But, Mysuru-Bengaluru flight has seen an occupancy rate of just 35 to 40 percent. This is because, travellers prefer car, bus and train to reach Bengaluru considering the travel time and traffic bottlenecks from Mysuru to Mysore Airport and then from Bengaluru Airport to Bengaluru city.