Special direct flights between Bengaluru and Mysuru are a possibility in October with the aim of bringing in more tourists when the city celebrates Dasara festivities.
At present, the Mysuru airport is dormant with no commercial flight operations since last year.
Efforts to bring Mysuru once again on the air map have so far remained unsuccessful as the airlines are of the view that Mysuru operations are “unviable”.
As Dasara is a key tourist season, drawing domestic and international tourists in big numbers, a proposal had been sent recently to the Tourism Department and the Karnataka Infrastructure Development Corporation for facilitating operation of special flights between Bengaluru and Mysuru for Dasara.
The proposal had been sent by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) through the office of Deputy Commissioner C. Shikha.
The purpose is to assist tourists, mainly the international tourists, to fly from Bengaluru on reaching the capital from their respective destinations instead of looking for other modes of transportation to reach Mysuru.
Ms. Shikha told The Hindu that the proposal had been submitted to tourism department as well as the Infrastructure Corporation as both have to coordinate.
The corporation had paid the subsidy part to the Alliance Air, the airline which operated flights from Bengaluru to Mysuru for a few months last year, as agreed between the government and the airline for launching the operations.
“We hope to get a positive response since Dasara is the major tourist season and special flights will surely help tourists coming from long distances,” she said.
Ms. Shikha, who is the Dasara special officer, felt special flights during Dasara season was a “viable” option due to increase in tourist arrivals.
The district administration felt flight operations will boost tourism in Mysuru and therefore the proposal can be given a serious thought.
B.S. Prashanth, chairman, Mysore Travel Mart, welcomed the proposal seeking special flight operations during Dasara and argued that this will boost Mysuru tourism, in need of a serious endorsement.
