The Bengal Aerotropolis Pvt Ltd (BAPL) promoted Durgapur airport will start operations with daily flights to Delhi. The company is likely to enter a pact with either Go Air or Indigo, this week, to firm up the flight schedule, according to sources.
With necessary infrastructure in place, the geenfield private airport has applied for the final clearance from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to start commercial operations.
“DGCA usually takes three to four weeks to grant such clearances. Accordingly, we are upbeat to flag off the first flight from Durgapur in April,” a company official said.
According him, the airport will be the second most modern and largest in the State after Kolkata. The airport is expected to attract passengers from a large part of the industrial and coalfield areas from West Bengal and neighbouring Jharkhand.
Apart from commercial airlines, the airport is expecting to attract good number of chartered flight and helicopter services, catering the local industry, riding on cheap refuelling option. The State Government has offered duty cut on fuel.
Chartered servicesAccording to BAPL sources, the Essar Group - that is exploring coal-bed-methane in a nearby field – has started using the Durgapur airport for its helicopter services beginning this week.
West Bengal currently has only one operational airport (other than Kolkata) at Bagdogra near Siliguri in the north. The airport at Cooch Behar which opened with much fanfare couple of years ago, failed to attract flights.
To promote air travel in smaller destinations, the State recently entered a contract with the proposed Kolkata-headquartered Pinnacle Air services to run flights on the Kolkata-Durgapur-Cooch Behar-Bagdogra-Kolkata route. The proposed airline is now awaiting DGCA license.