 "Is the gloom over for India's first private greenfield airport?")
The Air India 42-seater ATR-42 aircraft which took off from NSCB airport in Kolkata to land at KNI airport in Durgapur has given way to a larger 144-seater Airbus A -319 this Monday.
According to travel agents in the city, hardly any people save government officials availed the small ATR aircraft which suffered low booking rates.
"Officials who travel to Durgapur from Kolkata mostly avail their company-provided cars or go by the train. Around 78 percent of travel nowadays happens by either road or rail", a city-based travel agent having international operations told Business Standard.
Flight operations in the Durgapur area which is dotted by several public sector undertakings & power-intensive industries began on May this year.
It was projected previously that officials from companies who have operations in Durgapur will be availing the small 45-minutes flight to reach Durgapur. However, it didn't go as planned.
"It takes about three hours to reach Durgapur by bus or train. Considering the airtime of 45 minutes, the check-in and check-out formalities and baggage clearance procedures, people did not opt for the flight", the travel agent said.
Partha Ghosh, managing director of Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Limited (BAPL), the promoter of KNI airport, has however cited increasing traffic on the Kolkata-Durgapur air-route.
"The flight occupancy on the Kolkata - Andal route has been picking up by around 20% on a month-on-month basis. The ATR flight used to operate on a trial basis", he told this newspaper when probed.
Ghosh said the Airbus flight on the Kolkata-Durgapur-New Delhi route which took off on December 21 saw a 90% occupancy rate.
"It has to be understood that the Kolkata-Andal route which was being serviced by Air India till date was just the beginning of bigger things to come", he said.
During the inaugural months, private carriers Pinnacle Air and Spirit Air India also flew their crafts besides Air India. However, the private operators soon suspended their departures.
"There is some regulatory issues with the state government (West Bengal) and once this is sorted out, we may resume operations", an official at Pinnacle Air told this news-daily.
Spirit Air India - a non-scheduled airline company - which operated non-scheduled aircrafts suspended operations owing to lower bookings.
"In a non-scheduled flight route, an aircraft runs depending on the real -time tickets being booked in a certain air-route", Ghosh said.
However, the gloomier days of KNI seems to be waning away.
Ghosh, one of the three individual promoters in BAPL - which has stakes from the Indian subsidiary of the Singaporean Changi Airports International and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services - said for the forthcoming seven departures on the new extended route, between 90-100% occupancy has been noticed.
Nationalised carrier Air India flying the Airbus on the route three times a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) has drawn passengers from Durgapur, Asansol and Dhandabd so far.
The new Airbus flight is being operated on the Viability Gap Funding system implying that the nationalised carrier will not be incurring losses even under stress.
"We will not incur any loss in operating the flight as the same will be subsidised by BAPL. We are hopeful that this flight will be of immense help to passengers and will do well in the days to come", an official Air India spokesperson told this business-daily.
KNI airport has a tax holiday on air turbine fuel for six years which is poised to generate enthusiasm from other scheduled operators in the country.
The airpoirt's promoter is also in talks with other private carriers to inaugurate routes to Mumbai and other south Indian cities. However, the decision to opt for such flights will depend on the success of Air India managing to fetch bookings. Apparently, Bhutan Airlines has also shown interest for a technical stop at the KNI airport.
It has also planned an extensive marketing exercise with supervision from Changi Airports International to promote growth of traffic on this route.
"Efforts will now be focused on promoting this route where we expect to see huge demand in terms of passenger traffic owing to the presence of leading public sector undertakings in the airport catchment region", Ghosh added.
While the industrial belt near the airport has a 1.1 crore population, Durgapur is well connected to other populous cities both in West Bengal as well as Jharkhand which in future may lead to a surge in its traffic.
Chitra Ray, a homemaker living 44 km north-west of the airport in the nearby Asansol area said, "The KNI airport is just 45 minutes drive from here. It will of immense help as now I can take the flight (to New Delhi) directly from there to visit my daughter (in New Delhi) instead of going all the way to Kolkata".
Nearby towns like Asansol, Panagarh, Raniganj, Bolpur and several others will have a crucial role to play in the growth of traffic in KNI airport in the coming days.
