The inaugural Pune-Mangalore IndiGo flight, with 82 passengers, landed at 12.42 a.m., 38 minutes ahead of its scheduled arrival time of 1.20 a.m., on Monday. Pune is the newest destination to be served from Mangalore International Airport. The return flight left Mangalore Airport for Pune with 124 passengers at 2.40 a.m.

The new flight will operate four times a week on the Delhi-Pune-Mangalore sector. The flight leaves Mangalore at 2.40 a.m. and reaches Delhi at 6.55 a.m. after the layover in Pune. IndiGo, flight 6E 671 (Delhi-Pune-Mangalore) will operate on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Flight 6E 6431 (Mangalore-Pune-Delhi) will fly on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The airport staff said that introduction of the flight is a reaffirmation of their commitment to add new sectors — both domestic and international — for greater travelling convenience of passengers. The airport is committed to extending all help to airlines that wish to start flights to and from Mangalore and the summer schedule will create more such flying opportunities for passengers, it said.