Mangalore International Airport saw an increase of 3.88 per cent in the number of passengers during the first six months of the current financial year.

The airport handled 6,56,841 passengers from April-September of 2014-15 as against 6,32,261 passengers in the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

JT Radhakrishna, Director of Mangalore International Airport, said that though there was growth in the handling of international passengers, there was decline in the handling of domestic passengers during the period.

The number of international passengers stood at 2,37,789 during the first six months of 2014-15 as against 1,91,952 in the April-September of 2013-14, recording a growth of 23.87 per cent.

However, the number of domestic passengers came down to 4,19,052 during the first half of the current fiscal as against 4,40,309 in the corresponding period of 2013-14, recording a decline of 5 per cent in the passenger handling.

Radhakrishna said that the other tier-2 airports such as Trichy, Madurai, Tirupathi, Bhopal, Ahmedabad, Guwahati and Bhubaneswar have also seen a decline in the number of domestic passengers during the period.

He felt that the existing and the new airlines should add more flights from Mangalore to various domestic and international destinations. This will help boost the growth of passenger traffic at the airport, he added.