Kalaburagi Airport upgrades daily flight to Bengaluru, making room for more passengers

Kalaburagi: As there is a huge demand to travel to Bengaluru from Kalaburagi Airport, the airport authorities have upgraded the earlier 50-seater flight service to a larger Embraer E-175 with a 76-seating capacity.Many people, including professionals, businessmen, politicians, entrepreneurs, and several others, travel to Bengaluru by air since it is very convenient for them to return on the same day. In the absence of flight service from Kalaburagi, many people earlier travelled to Bengaluru by train or bus, and some travelled by air from Hyderabad Airport.Earlier, a a 50-seater flight was introduced to meet the requirement of local people travelling to Bengaluru, and this flight received an overwhelming response, with 92 to 95% of tickets booked daily. Gradually, the number of passengers travelling to Bengaluru increased, Thikshan M, terminal manager, Kalaburagi Airport, told TOI.To accommodate the increasing number of passengers, the 50-seater flight has been upgraded to a 76-seater, which started its operation from the airport on Monday. Star Air is operating the larger Embraer E-175 with a 76-seating capacity. The flight will arrive around 11.40am and depart to Bengaluru around 12.10pm, he said.He mentioned that they are also trying their best to convince more private airline operators to introduce flight services to Mumbai and other destinations from Kalaburagi. A proposal has already been sent to airline companies to start flight services to Mumbai since there is a huge demand for this destination. Talks are being held with concerned operators, and it is likely to happen in the days to come. They are also creating awareness about the new flight with increased seating capacity, he added.Sharanbasappa M Pappa, president of Kalyana Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the flight should be operated without cancelling its service. Earlier, they experienced that airport authorities cancelled the service abruptly, leaving passengers in a dilemma. They welcome the upgrade of the flight to a 76-seater as it would help more people to travel by air. Earlier, people used to travel by train as they could not get tickets.It is also said to boost the region's economic condition, attracting investors to consider Kalaburagi for their investment if there is better air service. They have also demanded the resumption of service to Delhi and Tirupati under the Udan scheme.He also said that airport authorities and flight operators should ensure affordable costs to encourage more people to travel by air rather than fixing hefty prices like before.