What’s wrong with the Mysore airport? It is still waiting for the resumption of commercial flight operations for the last 10 months after Kingfisher Airlines suspended its lone flight in November last year. Is it the lack of political will or the airlines’ susceptibility to industry slowdown and ever increasing Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices that are keeping flights away from Mysore? This is the question every Mysorean and tourist of heritage city is asking in disgust.
Now, there is more bad news. The two potential operators, Spice Jet and Jet Airways, who had expressed interest to start flight services from Mysore in the recent past, have backed off and confirmed that Mysore will not find place in their winter flight schedule. The Spice Jet, which has already announced its schedule, has preferred Hubli over Mysore. It is operating a night flight from Hubli to Bengaluru from September 27 to October 27 and has already started the bookings. Mr. Ajith Madhavan, sales manager, Karnataka (Trade), Spice Jet, told Deccan Chronicle that the Mysore airport is not considered as a preferred destination currently. “We are not rescheduling our flight via Mysore. I can’t elaborate the reasons for the reluctance. Moreover, there is no proposal in front of us.”
He said the airline is not responsible for the periodic statements given by politicians like Mysore in-charge minister S.A. Ramadas and bureaucrats that Spice Jet is going to start flight services from Mysore. “I can’t comment on a political statement. We are clear in our thinking and haven’t committed anything on starting the service from Mysore.” Mr. U.H. Shenoy, General Manager, Karnataka & AP, Jet Air, said the airline will announce the winter schedule by the month-end and it’s unlikely to include Mysore. “In fact, we are not adding any new cities in our schedule because of high operating costs. The oil firms have hiked the ATF price by another 2 per cent a few days ago, which is a blow to the already slowing down airline industry.”