Mangalore : Udupi Chikmagalur MP K Jayaprakash Hegde  has urged the Union Government to take early steps to launch a direct flight  between Mangalore and Saudi Arabia. The MP also said the direct flight service would benefit the region to a great extent.

The MP has in a letter to Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajith Singh, has said that Mangalore Airport was the nearest airport to the over two lakh people from coastal Karnataka, north Kerala,  who are employed in Saudi Arabia and urged to introduce the service at the earliest.