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 Planning for buses to Anantapur and Kannur

The State’s profit-making Fly Bus will spread its wings into neighbouring States.

Shivayogi C. Kalasad, MD, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), told The Hindu that shortly, new services from Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) will be introduced to Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh. The distance between the two destinations is close to 200 km. He added that talks are on to introduce a Fly Bus service from Kannur International Airport to Madikeri and Mysuru.

Mr. Shivayogi said, “The Fly Bus service offered by the Corporation has been well received by air passengers over the years. There has been demand for a Fly Bus from various destinations. One such destination is Anantapur. We are studying the response from the general public and data provided by the airport. Our officials have also conducted a market survey to fix the schedule of operations.”

The Fly Bus service has been profitable for the corporation.

The number of passengers travelling in these buses increased from 23,424 in 2014-15 to 1.85 lakh in 2019. The profit has gone up from ₹27.88 lakh in 2014-15 to ₹4 crore in 2018-19.

He said: “Recently, I had travelled on the Fly Bus to Mysuru to seek suggestions from air passengers. We have received suggestions that Kannur airport, which became operational last year, is close to Madikeri. There is need for a Fly Bus service to Kannur. We are also contemplating extending the service to Mysuru.”

The corporation had introduced the service in 2013 from KIA to Mysuru with one luxury bus. As demand increased, the number of services touched 15.

The corporation now operates buses to Madikeri, Mangaluru, Udupi, Manipal and some other destinations. A service to Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh was discontinued. Officials cited flight operations between Bengaluru and Tirupati under the UDAN scheme for decreased patronage.