M'lore chamber for flights abroad

A Srinivas Rao, president, Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry in a memorandum to Praful Patel, Union minister of state for civil aviation, has urged him to take up the issue of commencing custom-bound international airline operation from Mangalore Airport on a priority basis and pass necessary orders in this connection immediately.

He has pointed out that work on the second runway of Mangalore Airport is progressing fast and is expected to be ready for operation by February 2006.

"The prime requirement for operating international aircraft is the facility for customs and immigration clearance at the airport. We request you to notify Mangalore Airport as custom-bound airport to enable commencement of international airline operations immediately on completion of the work and commissioning of the new runway," the chamber has said.