New flights and routes fail to take off during winter schedule at Mangaluru International Airport

MANGALURU: The Mangaluru International Airport's (MIA) winter schedule has left travellers and aviation enthusiasts disappointed, as it has failed to introduce new flights and routes during the peak season.
The only addition to the schedule is two extra weekly flights to Muscat. One significant letdown was the cancellation of the Mangaluru-Pune flight, from Saturday, which was experiencing high demand and going full most of the time. This termination came as a surprise to many who relied on this route for their travel needs.
One aviation enthusiast took to X and posted: "Coastal Flyer @ShineofaSmile1 Disappointing winter schedule for Mangalore International Airport. Wake up @mlrairport. The growth of our competitors is blowing roofs and here we cannot sustain current routes? Disappointing efforts from your side #FlyIXE @AdaniOnline."
"We were expecting an additional flight to Mumbai and Bengaluru as well as other cities of the country. To our disappointment, there is no such development. Instead, flights operating from MIA have been cancelled, for example, the Pune sector, which was doing well. IndiGo operating to the Bengaluru sector frequency reduced from 35 flights weekly to 34 flights. It will only increase to 38 flights in Dec. The Air India Express reduced from 17 weekly to 14," a source from the aviation industry shared the recent development.
Need push from MP: Airlines
When TOI contacted the air carrier officials, they said that things will not move for MIA until and unless people's representatives, particularly the MP, take initiative to hold talks from the ministry side with air carrier operators at a higher authority level.
"For decades, MIA has been operating only in certain domestic and international sectors. It has failed to introduce any direct flights to domestic sectors such as Kolkata, Ahmedabad or Lucknow, which have huge demand. In the domestic sector, the focus is only on Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi, and the Gulf in the international sector. We have never explored beyond this. There are ample opportunities as well as infrastructure available at MIA. The potential is such that MIA can handle seven flights, including three international flights, every two hours," pointed out an official.
Will take up the matter: MP
When contacted, Brijesh Chowta, MP of Dakshina Kannada, expressed his intention to address the matter at hand. He plans to take two courses of action to resolve the issue. Firstly, he will be drafting and sending a letter to the relevant ministry, outlining his concerns and proposing potential solutions. Secondly, he intends to engage in discussions with the appropriate parties in the near future.