Mangaluru: The ongoing World Cup Football in Qatar has resulted in an increase in airfare between Mangaluru and Doha. As a result of this, many expats are flying to other airports in the country to reach home.

The current return airfare between Mangaluru to Qatar is around QAR 2,726 (Rs 61,000), while the off-season fare is less than Rs 40,000. As a result of this, many Mangaloreans fly to the Bengaluru, Kannur or Mumbai to reach their home towns. All these destinations have lower airfares compared to MIA.

For example, a family of three Vamanjoor residents unable to afford airfare flew to Kannur. The up and down flight to Kannur costs us around Rs 40,000 each. “We took a taxi to reach our home. This not only saved us a lot of money, but it also allowed us to book flights at our leisure,” the family said. This is not just them; a lot of them who recently came to their home town from Qatar has used a similar flight route.

Another family mentioned that because Qatar is hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2022, many companies have asked their employees to go on vacation. “The event will stretch for a month. As a result, many who have not gone on vacation for many years due to Covid-19 are coming down. However, costly airfare to Mangaluru is a disappointment to many expats.” Kannur airport has a daily flight to Qatar operated by IndiGo and five weekly flights by Air India Express. MIA, on the other hand, only has two flights per week.” Except for the UAE, the rest of the Gulf countries have fewer flights from Mangaluru. It must be increased to accommodate more passengers, and airfare should be reduced,” said an aviation geek who goes by the Twitter handle: Travelgeek @geek_ixe.