North Bengal is turning out to be a difficult place to land for Deccan Charters.
The non-scheduled passenger service — started by Air Deccan founder GR Gopinath, after he sold out his stake in the low-cost airline to Kingfisher's Mallya — had planned to start operating flights from Kolkata to Coochbehar in August, when it also started flying from Kolkata to Jamshedpur.
However, over a month and a half after services commenced to the Steel City, Deccan is yet to get all approvals from authorities to land at Coochbehar airport, which has been lying idle for almost two decades but underwent renovation more recently.
"The BCAS (Bureau of Civil Aviation Security) has given its report to the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation), which had cleared us for landing in Coochbehar. However, the DGCA is yet to inform the AAI (Airports Authority of India), which has to give us the final clearance," a Deccan Charters official said.
While the DGCA is the primary civil aviation sector regulator in the country, the main responsibility of the BCAS is to lay down standards and measures for security of civil flights across airports in India.
"But we are hopeful that it (the clearance) will happen soon, possibly within the end of this calendar year," the official added. The airline, however, may have lost the opportunity to cash-in on the lucrative holiday season due to this delay.
Meanwhile, the Kolkata-Jamshedpur flights have seen a good response, according to Deccan officials, however, the airline isn't considering upgrading the aircraft that services the route just yet.
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"The response has been very positive. We are operating three daily flights with our 18-seater aircraft. But we will wait a few more months before bringing in a bigger capacity ATR aircraft on this route," the official explained.
The air-link between Kolkata and Jamshedpur was restored by Deccan Charters almost a year after Kingfisher withdrew its services on the route towards the end of 2009. Additionally, Deccan Charters is also in the process of working out new routes in this part of the country, including the North East, but services are only expected to start next year.