Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Oct 17: Kannur airport in Kerala, which had become operational about a year back, is indeed overtaking Mangaluru airport in attracting more passengers. Huge gap in airfare from Mangaluru and Kannur has been the main reason for this. Daijiworld had published a report on this some days back. Yet there is no change in airfare or any clarification from anyone concerned so far.
There were concerns when Kannur airport was opened, about passengers from north Kerala bound for the Gulf opting for Kannur airport instead of Mangaluru because of distance factor. The distance between the city and Kannur is only about 150 km. But the fact is Kannur is attracting passengers from Mangaluru city itself and Udupi region.
As per our recent survey, a family of four opting to fly to Mangaluru from Kuwait has to shell out about one lac rupees more than what it would have incurred, had they opted for Kannur. This yawning gap is quite disturbing, as it has the potential of siphoning away passenger flow from the city to Kannur. For these passengers, travelling to Kannur and then coming back to the city offers a profitable and lucrative proposition.
A family from Udupi having four members including two children settled in Kuwait had checked the price of economy class air travel to Mangaluru for December 21. They would have to pay Rs 2,33,680 for the journey. The same travel to Kannur would cost only about Rs 92,000, which saves a whopping Rs 1,30,724. They booked ticket to Kannur, as that would save them lot of money.
The family says that Air India, instead of keeping its airfare at competitive levels, has been fleecing the passengers of Karnataka coast. Therefore, a large number of NRI Indians are opting to travel to Kannur and then reach coastal Karnataka, which would entail additional expenditure of only about Rs 5,000.
Manjeshwar Mohandas Kamath, an engineer working in Kuwait, has urged Air India to bring down the airfare to Mangaluru and ensure that it compares well with the airfares to Kannur. But Air India has not responded yet.
At the same time, there is demand to change the timing of Air India's Kuwait flight. After Jet Airways shut down operations, Air India alone has been operating flights to Bahrain and Kuwait from here. The flight to Kuwait leaves at 6.36 am and reaches Kuwait at 10.30 am, and passengers get late to the office. It is said that organizations in Kuwait had approached MP, Nalin Kumar Kateel, seeking a change in the timing but it has not been considered. The flights to Kuwait from Kannur are scheduled at night, which is convenient for office goers. In addition to money, even time is saved.
One hopes that the authorities concerned wake up to the seriousness of the challenge faced by the airport here and take measures to retain existing passengers and attract new ones through competitive pricing, ideal timings etc before it is too late.
In short, it does not look like the inefficiency of Mangaluru airport management, but the state
carrier Air India which could have acted more responsibly. No airlines should discriminate like this, opine many passengers from the region.
Read our earlier report: