Mangaluru : The long-awaited Mysuru-Mangaluru flight service was inaugurated here on Friday enhancing the region’s connectivity with coastal areas of the State.

It is a non-UDAN flight by , a subsidiary of Air India, and is expected to boost tourism of both the regions apart from giving an impetus to investment.

Alliance Air flight AI 9532 will operate four times a week – on Wednesday, Friday Saturday and Sunday. It will depart from Mysuru at 11.20 a.m. and reach Mangaluru at 12.30 p.m. In the return direction Alliance Air flight AI 9533 will depart from Mangaluru at 12.55 p.m. and land at Mysuru at 1.55 p.m.

The flight connectivity is significant as Mysuru is home to nearly 65,000 people or around 12,000 families from the coastal belt apart from significant number of entrepreneurs who have business interests spread across the two regions.

The new flight has been welcomed by the stakeholders from the tourism and hospitality sector and various trade bodies as it reduces the travel time between the two cities. The journey by road is not only tedious and takes almost 8 hours, the route passing through the hilly terrain in Kodagu tends to be blocked for weeks together during the monsoon thus disconnecting the two regions.

The Alliance Air CEO Ms.Harpreet A De Singh who was present for the inaugural flight said there was tremendous demand for the flight from the people of both Mysuru and Mangaluru to operate a flight connecting the two cities. “Though we were cautious about introducing a non-UDAN flight, we went by the feedback received from various trade bodies,” said Ms. Singh expressing confidence that the originating air passenger traffic from both the cities would increase in the days ahead.

Mysuru MP Mr.Pratap Simha said lack of regular flight connectivity from the region was a major hinderance for luring investors and such flights will help drive more investment to Mysuru besides giving an impetus to tourism development.