Passenger footfalls have seen an increase at Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) during this summer season. A statement by MIA said passenger footfalls from April 24 to May 1 confirm this increasing trend for both business and pleasure travel.
On May 1, MIA recorded a passenger footfall of 6,231 with 50 flight movements. This included both domestic and international flight movements.
On April 30, it had recorded passenger footfall of 5,942 with 40 movements. These numbers have hovered above 4,750 since April 24, it said.
An MIA spokesperson said places such as Guwahati, Jaipur, Bagdogra, Kolkata, Delhi and Hubballi are now reachable either through direct, through or short-layover flights.
He said if Guwahati opens the gates to tourist locations in the North-East such as Shillong, Tsomgo Lake in Sikkim – all well connected by surface transport; Jaipur, via Mumbai and Bengaluru, connects Rajasthan to the tourists.
A trip to Bagdogra, via Bengaluru, will bring the tourists closer to Darjeeling, Chalsa, Siliguri, Guwahati, Kaziranga National Park, and rest of North-East. Through flight to Kolkata, via Bengaluru, will also bring tourists closer to Bagdogra and Siliguri, he said.
MIA is also now connected to Delhi via a through flight from Pune.
For travel within Karnataka, weekly four flights to Hubballi will connect tourist spots such as Gokarna, Jog Falls, and the UNESCO heritage site of Hampi, the spokesperson added.