The onset of the third wave of the pandemic and the consequent surge in the number of COVID-19 cases has impacted general travel in Mysuru as evident in the dip in passenger occupancy in flights and trains.
Incoming and outbound flights from Mysuru have seen a fall in passenger numbers in the last few days, in sync with the general increase in COVID-19 cases.
Mysuru airport Director R. Manjunath told The Hindu that flight operations had more or less attained the passenger traffic that existed in the pre-pandemic times. All the flights had over 90% occupancy, and there were signs of a revival in air traffic. But within two weeks, occupancy rates have been on a gradual dip, and are now down by at least 30%.
He said that some of the sectors in which passenger occupancy was consistently around 95%, like Mysuru-Hyderabad, Mysuru-Chennai and Mysuru-Goa, were the worst affected.
‘’As COVID-19 cases increased in those cities or States, outbound traffic from Mysuru to these cities began to take a hit. Occupancy has come down from 95% to 60%,” he added.
With the number of new COVID-19 cases increasing in Mysuru over the last few days, occupancy rates are expected to fall further.
The third wave has also put paid to the exercise of seeking additional flights to Mysuru.
Mr. Manjunath said additional flights were in the offing to Goa, which is a very popular destination. Flights were also sought to Goa via Belagavi, Kalaburagi via Hubballi, Tirupathi, Shirdi and a late evening or early morning flight to Mangaluru. “We had sounded off flight operators about the potential. The additional flight to Goa was almost getting finalised, but now all proposals are on hold,” he said.
At present flights operate from Mysuru to Chennai, Goa, Kochi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad (two flights). Some passengers prefer to fly to Hyderabad or Chennai and take a connecting flight to Delhi or Kolkata instead of traversing nearly 5 hours by road to Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru
A decline in passenger occupancy rates has also been reported by the railways, which is a mass public transport provider. The passenger footfall during weekends at Mysuru railway station was down from around 15,000 on an average day to 5,000 while the occupancy rates in unreserved trains and compartments were also low compared to the actual carrying capacity of the trains.
There was a decline in the number of passengers travelling from Mysuru to Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, which are reporting a surge in COVID-19 cases, while cancellation of reserved tickets is on the rise.