Air link between Mysuru and Chennai was revived on August 13 after a brief hiatus shoring up connectivity between the two cities.
Though TruJet used to operate between the two cities, the service was discontinued.
After prolonged negotiations with Indigo, authorities convinced the airline of the traffic potential between the two cities. The inaugural flight was flagged off in a subdued manner owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The inbound as well as the outbound flight had nearly 35 passengers on the first day of the service.
This is a non-UDAN flight. To start with, the service will be available thrice a week. Flight 6E7269 will depart from Chennai at 2.50 p.m. and arrive in Mysuru at 4.15 p.m. In the return direction, the flight will depart from Mysuru at 4.35 p.m. and reach Chennai at 5.55 p.m.
R. Manjunath, Director, Mysuru airport said Mysuru-Chennai traffic has been encouraging. Occupancy was always in excess of 80% in the ATR72 aircraft, which can carry around 70 passengers. “We are confident that given the number of passengers who travel between the two cities, Indigo will make it a daily service in due course,” said Mr. Manjunath.
Discontinuation of the TruJet service was attributed to operational reasons and had nothing to do with the market potential, according to authorities.
With the introduction of Indigo flights, Mysuru is now connected to Bengaluru, Belagavi, Kochi, Goa, Hyderabad and Chennai. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, things are looking up and occupancy rates are higher than 80%, according to Mr. Manjunath.
As far as Chennai was concerned, there was a ready market as the flight duration is less than 2 hours while overnight trains take up to 8 hours. A significant number of people visit Chennai for business or for a visa at the US consulate, Mr. Manjunath added.
