Flight services to increase at MIA from March

Mangaluru: The Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) will see an increase in both domestic and international flight services starting this March, a move expected to boost passenger footfall and overall air traffic.The Mangaluru–Muscat service operated by Air India Express, which was suspended last year, will resume from March 1 with two weekly flights. The suspension caused inconvenience to people from Mangaluru and nearby districts working in the Sultanate of Oman."Without citing any reason, the flight was suspended 8 months ago. It was difficult for people of Mangaluru and nearby districts working in Oman. After several representations to the local MP and authorities, the service will be restored. We are happy that the flight is resuming from March 1, and bookings have already started," said Shashidhar Shetty Mallar, an entrepreneur and expatriate based in Oman.In another international development, IndiGo, which reduced its Mangaluru–Abu Dhabi service from daily to 4 weekly flights in Feb, will restore daily operations from March.Meanwhile, Air India Express will increase its Mangaluru–Dammam service to 6 weekly flights from March, and plans to operate daily flights from April. The Bahrain–Mangaluru service operated by the airline will also be temporarily increased to 4 weekly flights during the first 2 weeks of March.In the domestic sector, Air India Express will temporarily operate a third daily flight between Mangaluru and Bengaluru from March 13 to March 26.Officials from IndiGo said that while there are limited announcements in the summer schedule, the airline is exploring additional domestic and international routes from Mangaluru. "We have plans to introduce services to Dammam and Jeddah in the international sector. Domestically, the airline is considering routes to Cochin and Kolkata. Navi Mumbai International Airport, which was introduced as a destination last Dec, is witnessing a passenger occupancy of about 80 to 85%. Many passengers are using this route to travel onwards to Shirdi and Pune," an IndiGo official said.