Mangalore airport flier traffic rises by 21 p.c.

Gross revenue increases by 26 per cent to Rs. 63.89 crore last fiscal

Mangalore International Airport handled more than 12.55 lakh passengers forthe first time in 2013-14.

Over 2.23 lakh more fliers used Mangalore International Airport during the last financial year, that is a jump of 21.55 per cent from 2012-13.

Airport Director J.T. Radhakrishna said the airport handled more than 12.55 lakh passengers for the first time in 2013-14. In 2012-13, 10.32 lakh fliers used the airport. The international passenger traffic went up by 54 per cent and the domestic traffic by 10.1 per cent, he said in a press release.

Mr. Radhakrishna said the airport handled 4.13 lakh international passengers during 2013-14 when compared to 2.67 lakh international passengers handled during 2012-13.

The number of domestic passengers handled in the last financial year stood at 8.41 lakh when compared to 7.74 lakh passengers in 2012-13.

The gross revenue of the airport increased by 26 per cent to Rs. 63.89 crore in the last financial year, he said.

Jet, Express powered

Mr. Radhakrishna told The Hindu that Jet Airways starting a daily flight to Dubai and Air India Express operating a flight to Dammam two days a week in the last financial year contributed for 54 per cent growth in international traffic.

To a question, he said that Air India Express withdrawing its Kochi-Mangalore-Kuwait flight, operating two days a week, recently would not affect the growth in international traffic much in the current financial year. It was because it had reserved only 60 seats to Mangalore and 100 seats had been reserved for Kochi.