Cooch Behar in north Bengal is all set to be connected by air once again, as a private carrier will soon launch scheduled flight services between the town and Calcutta.
According to CEO of IndiaOne Air, Arun Kumar Singh, the airline plans to initially operate around five flights a week and begin daily services in the next two months.
“We are targeting February 21 for launching the flight operations between the two destinations, as the calibration of some equipment is still to be completed,” Singh told PTI over phone.
He informed that the airline will operate a nine-seater Cessna Grand Caravan 208 Ex aircraft in the sector.
The flight from Calcutta will reach Cooch Behar at 12.10 pm, while the return flight will depart for the metropolis at 12.30pm.
Singh said the flights to Cooch Behar and back will be operated under the Centre’s regional connectivity UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme.
The airline will come up with a promotional fare of Rs 999 initially for 9-10 days, while the normal fare will be around Rs 3,750, Singh said.
Since the flights will be operated under the scheme, there is a cap on the airfares, he said.
He also said that the Gujarat-based airline has at present two aircraft, and another will be added to the fleet very soon.
Regional Executive Director (East) of Airports Authority of India (AAI), Manoj Gangal, said the flight services will commence soon, but the date is yet to be finalised.
The airline currently operates flights between Bhubaneswar and Jeypore, Jeypore and Vizag, Bhubaneswar and Jamshedpur, and between Jamshedpur and Kolkata.
The Cooch Behar airport is spread across 174 acres of land. The length of the runway is 1,069 metres, while the width is 30 metres.
The terminal building has a capacity to handle 100 passengers at a time.
According to AAI officials in Calcutta, scheduled flight operations to Cooch Behar stopped several years ago. Vayudoot, a regional airline, used to operate flights to the region before.
Later, in 2011, a non-schedule airline from the northeast had started operations between Calcutta and Cooch Behar, but the services were short lived.
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