Mangalore air traffic sees 125% jump in a year

Bangalore: The coastal city of Karnataka, Mangalore, is now on the radar of many international flyers. Bajpe Airport at Mangalore has reported a whopping 125.6% growth in international aircraft movement during April-May 2008 as compared to the same period last year.
According to the latest Airports Authority of India statistics for April-May 2008, Mangalore's growth is the second highest in the country after another southern tier-II city, Coimbatore, which reported a whopping 213.7% increase in aircraft movement.
In Mangalore, the total aircraft movement to and from foreign destinations increased to 370 from 164. The total passenger movement for the same period was 33,041, up from 25,216. Compare this with the country's international aircraft movement growth of only 13.4% during the same period.
The three Indian airports that reported a triple-digit international air traffic growth were tier-II cities - Coimbatore , Mangalore and Nagpur.
Goa, the favourite of foreign travellers, saw a decrease in aircraft movement of 22.3% during April-May this year with 348 movements, as against 448 reported in the same period last year.
Currently, Mangalore is only connected to the Gulf region by the public sector budget airline Air India Express, which offers around 20 weekly flights to Dubai, Doha, Kuwait, Bahrain and Sharjah. Other international budget carriers like Air Arabia are also expected to start operations at Mangalore.
12/10/08 Anshul Dhamija & Stanley G Pinto/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Oct 2008