MANGALURU: The Mangaluru International Airport, despite being the second major airport in the state, has no direct flight to Delhi. They were suspended a few months ago citing poor passenger load, according to airlines. Currently, one has to spend more than five hours to reach Delhi via connecting flights.
Sources pointed out there was no demand for the route. “There was only seasonal demand to this route, especially when students studying in Manglauru or Manipal left or returned to their hometowns. There was also demand during weekends. Otherwise the flight had only 50% occupancy,” claimed a senior executive of a low-budget airline. “This is not economically viable. We may start a service when the time is right,” the executive added. Senior official of another airline pointed out that the primary reason to stop a flight service to any destination, is poor passenger load.
The tweet from the official handle of Mangaluru International Airport, Mangaluru Airport @mlrairport on January 24, 2017 claimed otherwise. It tweeted: “Both Mangalore-Delhi-Mangalore Jet airways and Mangalore-Hyderabad-Mangalore Spicejet flight both are doing well with more than 90% loads as of now.” There was a direct flight available to Delhi, which was suspended in March 28.
