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Passenger handling at Mangalore airport witnessed 20 per cent growth in the first four months of 2012.
The airport handled 3.21 lakh passengers in the first four months of calendar year 2012, against 2.68 lakh passengers in the corresponding period of 2011, registering a growth of 19.87 per cent.
Speaking to Business Line , Mr M. R. Vasudeva, Airport Director, Airports Authority of India, Mangalore, attributed this growth to Mangalore's connectivity with more locations.
Mangalore airport is now directly connected with locations such as Hyderabad and Chennai. The connectivity between Mangalore and Hyderabad is attracting more passengers, he said.
International operations from Mangalore airport began in October 2006. The Indian population in West Asia contributes more than one-fourth to the total passenger handling at the airport.
International passengers
The airport — which is connected to locations such as Dubai, Muscat, Kuwait among others — handled 86,544 passengers from January-April 2012. This contributed 27 per cent to the total passengers handled at Mangalore airport.
In the first four months of 2011, the airport handled 79,469 international passengers, contributing 29.61 per cent to the total traffic during that period.
Mr Vasudeva said the number of international passengers handled at the airport is 7000 more compared to the first four months of 2011.
Mr Rajesh Sequera, co-ordinator of the UAE-based Karnataka NRI Forum, said direct connections between Mangalore and locations in West Asia have helped save time for passengers. This helped increase international passenger traffic.
Stressing the need for a direct connection between Mangalore and Saudi Arabia, he said it would further increase the air traffic from Mangalore.
However, he said more international airlines should be connected with Mangalore. For this, Mangalore should be declared as an international airport, he added.
Mangalore airport is a customs aerodrome with permission to handle international flights.
The total number of passengers handled at the airport increased from 6.74 lakh in 2007 to 8.47 lakh in 2011.
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