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Mysore Airport

Contributed by Captain Anup Murthy
Thursday, 16 February 2006
Page 1 of 2 About Mysore I will write, for the benefit of non-Indian readers, names and locations of the places that are mentioned in this article. First up, this article is about Mysore Airport although portions of the article may appear to look like a travelogue. Mysore is a City in Karnataka State located in Southern India and located at an elevation of 763 meters above mean sea level (around 2500 feet). Mysore (pronounced locally as “maisoor”) is an ancient town, named after a demon King of ancient times called “Mahishasur” who was ultimately vanquished by the Goddess called Chamundeshwari. A hill in the City has been named after the Goddess and an ancient temple dedicated to the Goddess sits atop the hill. Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia on the web, has all the details of the City and its heritage and there is no shortage of information about the city on the web. In brief, Mysore is famous for its heritage buildings, silk, sandalwood, incense, jasmine flowers, World famous yoga centers and many more. Mysore Airport is just outside this hill area. An Airstrip exists (not from Mahishasur’s time!) from the time of the British rule in India (India gained Independence from Britain in 1947) and was developed as a secondary airstrip during the Second World War. The British Government and the Maharaja of Mysore used to fly in and out on the DC-3 Aircraft. A small terminal building built during that period still stands and for a brief period in the 1980’s, served as a passenger terminal when Vayudoot Airlines (Government owned and now defunct) used to operate a Dornier 228 turbo prop Aircraft connecting Mysore to Bangalore (the state capital of Karnataka State) and also Tirupathi (a famous temple town in neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh, South India). Mysore was a small town during the days that Vayudoot Airlines operated but has now blossomed into a mini metro having an estimated population of around one million residents. Mysore has grown but the airstrip has not been developed and no Airline is offering services as yet. Tigers and Elephants! The location of the Airport is perfect, right off the National Highway going south from Mysore towards the Kerala State border, passing through Wildlife sanctuaries that have tigers, elephants, deer and many other species of animals and birds. The weather is perfect and enjoys year round flying except for possible disruptions during June to August monsoon season. The dirt strip runway is now being used for the National Cadet Corps glider and microlight flight training. There are flights in small Aircraft used by companies to fly their personnel from time to time. Some of these Aircraft include Beech Barons, Beech King Air C90 and B200 being the most popular in India, P68 (Partenavia-now assembled in India by Taneja Aviation and Aerospace Ltd near Bangalore in Southern India) and others. There is no charter company or Aircraft owners or operators based in Mysore at this time. << Start < Previous 1 2 Next > End >>