Charter flight service takes off in north-east India

Agartala: The Kolkata-based private airline Northeast Shuttles Ltd (NSL) today announced that it has launched a chartered flight service in the northeast region.
“The civil aviation ministry has given approval to operate this non-scheduled and charter passenger service, first-of-its-kind in the north-east,” NSL managing director Ms Sheba K Mani said.
According to Ms Mani, NSL's nine-seater aircraft (Cessna Caravan 208B) can land at any airfield with an airstrip at least 1,700 feet long, and even on unprepared runways and unmanned airfields.
The company's base station would be Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata.
Earlier, the ministry for development for northeastern region had announced that a dedicated regional airline would operate in northeast India.
The regional airline is expected to start operations by the end of this year.
The operator will be offered subsidies from the North Eastern Council (NEC), a regional planning body for the eight northeastern states.
“The NEC had floated tenders twice to select the airline, but the two private airlines and the state-run Alliance Air, which have submitted bids, could not fulfil the criteria of the NEC and the ministry," an official said. He said the NEC later cancelled the second bid and would soon float fresh tenders, relaxing the criteria.
30/10/08 Indo-Asian News Service/The Statesman

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Categories: New Oct 2008, Regional Airlines Oct 2008