Mangaluru: Flight connectivity from this coastal city to India’s economic capital Mumbai got a boost with Air India introducing their second daily flight to Mangaluru from June 10. This comes close on the heels of IndiGo adding a third daily flight on Mumbai-Mangaluru sector on May 22. With this, the two airlines now operate five daily flights on this much travelled sector.
Air India flight 1679 departs Mumbai at 12.40pm to reach Mangaluru at 2.10pm. On the return leg, AI 1680 leaves Mangaluru at 2.50pm to reach Mumbai at 4.35pm. The inaugural run of this second daily flight saw 182 passengers arrive on AI 1679 and 167 passengers leave for Mumbai on AI 1680. The other Air India flight AI 679 leaves Mumbai at 5.45am to reach Mangaluru at 7.20am. Flight AI 680 leave Mangaluru at 7.55am and arrives in Mumbai at 9.35am.
According to airline industry sources, IndiGo will operate its third daily flight to Mumbai till the end of the current summer airline schedule that ends on October 28. The low-cost carrier which initially had planned this third daily flight up to June 15, has since extended it up to July 31. With this, daily air traffic movements (ATM) at Mangaluru International Airport are 38 and passenger count – domestic and international hovers around the 5000 mark.
In 2022, Mumbai-MIA as per data released by DGCA, emerged as the busiest route, with 4.9 lakh passengers flying to and from the two coastal cities in Maharashtra and Karnataka respectively.