Night flight service withdrawn at Bagdogra airport

PRIVATE CARRIER SPICEJET, WHICH LAUNCHED NIGHT FLIGHTS AT BAGDOGRA, PULLED OUT CITING POOR BOOKINGS, Pramod Giri, THT, 6 Nov 2013, SILIGURI: The future of night flight services at Bagdogra airport has been thrown into a fresh spell of uncertainty, with the only private flight operator withdrawing services, citing a shortfall of fliers.

The private operator, which launched two night flights on an experimental basis on October 1 and 5, pulled out in the wake poor flight bookings. Quizzed on the move, officials of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) said they were unsure when the services would resume.

The launch of night flight services at Bagdogra had been a long-standing demand of both the Bengal and Sikkim governments, saying it was critical to boosting the tourism industry in North Bengal and Sikkim. Several tour and travel operators too lent chorus, saying the provision of night flights was critical to drawing more visitors to the region.

The night flight services got under way with a Kolkata Bagdogra SpiceJet flight. The flight, with 56 passengers on board, touched down on the runway at 7.30 in the evening.

Minister Goutam Deb along with hundreds of locals, scribes, AAI officials and members of tour and travel organisations were in attendance at the airport to welcome the passengers on October 1.

Many had hoped that the launch of night flights on trial basis would serve as a major fillip to the fragile economy of North Bengal and boost the tourism sector no end. The demand for night flights goes back eleven years, when Mamata Banerjee, then railways minister, took up the matter with the civil aviation minister.

However, lack of passengers has since come as major dampener to the service and the prospect of a proper rollout in the foreseeable future. With bookings at a trickle, several SpiceJet flights had to be cancelled during the experimental rollout.

Quizzed on the matter, a senior AAI official said the poor passenger count was expected as it always takes time for an airline to draw bulk passengers for a service newly launched.

During her recent Darjeeling visit, the chief minister said she had urged the SpiceJet authorities not to withdraw night flights from Bagdogra.

Sources said the service was not likely to resume anytime before February. “Another (airline) operator has evinced an interest to launch night flight operations from February, 2014,” a source said.

In some heartening news however, private carrier Indigo has voiced an interest to launch daytime services from the Bagdogra airport from December 1. However, the airline hasn’t put out any official word on the same, sources said.