May 31: While there is no argument that the state needs better air connectivity, there is growing concern about whether the government is going about it the right way. Despite the huge investment in the Mysore airport, it sees one landing and one take-off a day as people prefer to travel by road to it. Now that more airports are being planned at Gulbarga, Shimoga, Bijapur, Hassan and Bellary, the time has come to ask whether the government has done its homework.
The Mysore airport was planned because it was thought it would be commercially viable as the city draws over 25 lakh tourists annually and Infosys has a workforce of 15,000 drawn from different parts of the country in Mysore. When the airport came up it had to lie idle for months before a commercial operator agreed to operate from it. Most operators were reluctant as they felt there was very poor traffic in the sector.
The Chief Minister had to announce a subsidy of Rs 25 crore to get airlines interested. Now Kingfisher flies a 55-seater ATR between Chennai and Mysore via Bengaluru. And though the once-a-day flight has good occupancy and Spicejet too is said to be contemplating flying on the Bengaluru-Mysore route, experts in the field say tourism and business activity in Mysore is not reflected in the number of air travellers from the city. The reason appears to be the good road connectivity between Mysore and Bengaluru, which has flights to destinations around the world. Moreover, the air fare between Bengaluru and Mysore is around Rs 5,000, which is something travellers would rather not pay.
The question now is whether other airports planned around the state will attract air traffic, when there are so few takers for flights to and from from Mysore. Has the government thought things through carefully when selecting locations for airports considering the huge cost involved?
Consider the case of Hassan. The initial project cost of Rs 650 crore has risen steeply as besides a 5000-metre runway, Hassan airport will have a pilot training institute, an inland container depot, an IT/ aircraft campus, an aeroplane maintenance centre, a hi-tech hospital, a five start hotel and a recreation centre, all spread over 2,500 acres. The cost? At least Rs 3,000 crore.
The fear is that it could go the Mysore way as Hassan too is close to Bengaluru. Similarly, Bellary and Gulbarga are close to Hyderabad. So, will people still prefer to use Bengaluru and Hyderabad airports and make road trips to these cities? It’s worth pondering as huge public money is going into the airports planned in these parts.
