Kolkata-Cooch Behar flight grounds within months

Helicopter services proposed for districts.

The much-hyped Kolkata-Cooch Behar flight service has grounded within months of resumption. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee now has got helicopter services from the city to various tourist spots in the state in her offering.

Banerjee has announced in several public meetings that she intends to set up airports in every district. On July 19, she flagged off flights between Kolkata and Cooch Behar in North Bengal with a grand inaugural ceremony. North East Shuttles, a nonscheduled airline, was supposed to run 18-seater Dornier 228 aircraft five days a week from September 5 onwards.

According to the deal, the state government had underwrite eight seats based on occupancy during every trip for a period of six months (a one trip fare was Rs 5000). However, the air service has remained suspended for about a month.

“We are ready with our infrastructure. We do not know what has gone wrong with them. I have tried to contact them. Neither the government nor the operator has communicated anything to us,” AAI regional executive director M Lakra said. AAI has been spending about Rs 10 lakh per month on the airport and a number of officials have been permanently posted there .

Though no response was available from North East Shuttles, according to government sources, the company is understood to have lost interest in the venture.

Helicopter Service
Meanwhile, the state government has received a proposal from Cart Air that it wants to provide helicopter services from Kolkata to various tourist spots in the state.

According to the proposal, the operator will fly a six-seater copter from Behala airport in Kolkata to various places in the state like Digha, Mandarmani, Asansol, Durgapore. “We have heard about the proposal from Cart Air. We are yet to get details about the same,” Lakra said.

According to Government sources, Mamata Banerjee is likely to inaugurate Kolkata-Digha helicopter service in the first week of December.