Durgapur airport begins commercial operations

Housing minister Arup Biswas, movie stars fly inaugural service operated by Air India

Commercial plying of aircraft was inaugurated on Monday to and from the new and privately built airport at Andal, about 15 km from Durgapur in Bardhaman district.

State finance minister Amit Mitra and Partha Ghosh, managing director of Bengal Aerotropolis (BAPL), the entity which got the project going and manages it, were at the airport here to see off housing minister Arup Biswas and a host of movie celebrities, among others, who took the inaugural 42-seater ATR plane flight of Air India (AI) at around 5 pm to Kazi Nazrul Islam airport at Andal. They took a return flight from Andal later in the evening.

Earlier in the morning, non-scheduled operator Pinnacle Air operated a 10-seater flight from here to Andal.

Commercial operation at Kazi Nazrul Islam airport, in which Singapore’s Changi has a 36.2 per cent stake, will continue with Alliance Air, an AI subsidiary, operating a 42-seater ATR flight between Andal and Kolkata six days a week and Pinnacle Air connecting it with Kolkata, Bagdogra and Cooch Behar.

The AI flight (AI-9713) will take off from Kolkata at 5 pm and land at Andal airport at 5.45 pm daily. The return flight (AI-9714) will take off from Andal at 6.05 pm and reach Kolkata at 6.50 pm. Alliance Air has fixed the one-way fare at Rs 2,500, with discounts for students and the differently-abled. Passengers boarding on Andal Air India will be able to take connecting flights from here with through luggage check-in. Andal (it is also 20 km from Asansol) has a capacity to handle a million passengers a year.

Among the scheduled airlines, GoAir and IndiGo are understood to be in negotiations with BAPL to commence operation on the Delhi-Durgapur-Kolkata route. BAPL is offering a concession on landing and parking fees, and a subsidy on seats.

Also, West Bengal has waived sales tax (earlier 100 per cent) on aviation turbine fuel at Andal, along with Cooch Behar and Bagdogra, for three years.

Officials suggest, “seat underwriting” or buying seats to attract fliers is also under consideration for BAPL. It is also understood to have initiated talks with non-scheduled airline Air Costa to connect Durgapur with Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

The airport is the first phase of BAPL’s airport-city project at Andal, for which it has 1,818 acres. It has  invested around Rs 1,000 crore till date in the first phase that  includes construction of the airport and initial infrastructure for the proposed township. After completing this phase, BAPL plans an ‘airport city’, with an information technology park, hospitals and a residential complex.