Team Mangalorean - Suburban

Mangalore: The airport code IXE of the city now having gone into the global map, another landmark was achieved at Kenjar when an aircraft carrying 138 passengers from the Kingdom of Bahrain landed here around 6-40 pm on Saturday.

The plane, crew and passengers were welcomed by airport director M R Vasudeva, Saleem U R and other members of LIFE organization, entrepreneurs Rohan Monteiro, Vishwas Shetty, National Institute of Personnel Management chairman Shekhar Poojary and others. Sweetmeats were exchanged and distributed to celebrate the momentous occasion.

More to come

International airlines like Emirates, Air Arabia, Air Lanka and Air Asia are said to be eyeing Mangalore as a prospective destination and point of operation. Travel to Europe, the American continent, the Far East and Australia is likely to be shorter with connectivity. With a steep rise in passengers' number, tourism and trade are likely to get a boost.

Direct flights from here to major destinations are likely to be a reality soon. At least one flight a week, to begin with, is likely to be operated to Sri Lanka and another to Singapore.

On an average, 40 flights, domestic and international, are being handled at this airport. Kuwait, Sharjah, Doha, Bahrain, Muscat and Abu Dhabi are connected by direct flights. On the domestic front, the city is connected to Mumbai, Calicut, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Goa and Chennai. At present, Air India Express, JetAirways and SpiceJet are operating flights from and to Mangalore.