Drop in air traffic to city

MANGALORE: The combined impact of high fuel prices and an economic slowdown, has seen a 37% drop in traffic between Mangalore and Bangalore in the three months from July to August this year, compared to the corresponding period last year.
The drop has not been that acute on the Mangalore-Mumbai sector, where it was as high as 22% in September this year, compared to same period last year.
The combined capacity of the three major airlines operating between Mangalore and Bangalore ��� Jet Airways, Kingfisher and Deccan ���- was 15,500 this year in the three months and the utilisation has been 40%-48%, with the highest being 48% in August. In 2007, the capacity was 10,292 and the utilisation was 76%-83%. In September 2007, the capacity was 9,960 and the utilization was 7,586.
Sources in the airline industry say that the opening of the Bangalore International Airport, which is far away from the city and the initial negative publicity, combined with the resumption of the Mangalore-Bangalore train, saw the air traffic go down considerably.
Even though the Mangalore-Mumbai sector has been hit by the high fares, the drop has not been that sharp. The combined capacity of all airlines, including Indian, was 22,568 (21,840 for the month of September) from July this year and the utilisation was high at 55% only in August. The July and September month, the utilization was just 40%.
In 2007, the capacity was 22,072 (21,360 in September) and the utilization was 59%-73%. This means the drop has been at a low of 13% in July and a high at 22% in September this year.
Sources say that the traffic was not hit as much, as Mumbai being a 16-17 hour journey away either by train or by bus, people still preferred the airlines. But not so in the case of Bangalore, which is an overnight journey.
With under capacity hurting the industry, already Jet Airways has temporarily suspended its evening flights. Its morning flights will be temporarily suspended from November 1 to 25. Jet Station Manager Pramod Nair said that the company would be introducing ATR with a capacity of 62 seats, instead of the Boeing, currently operating with a seating capacity of 112.