DGCA hurdle to Cooch Behar air link

Kolkata: The Cooch Behar airport is ready for the first flight in nearly two decades. Deccan Charter is geared up to begin a daily service between Kolkata and Cooch Behar. Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials are waiting eagerly to put the north Bengal town back on the country's air map. Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has given the clearance. But the endless wait for resumption of flights continues, with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) yet to give its nod.
"The Cooch Behar airport is ready to handle flights. The `35-crore airport upgrade project was completed six months ago. A new terminal building to handle over 35,000 passengers per annum has been built. We have also set up a control tower with new technical block. BCAS officials have inspected the airport 20 days ago. Now, all we need is a clearance from DGCA to give Deccan Charter permission to land at Cooch Behar," AAI regional executive director Gautam Mukherjee said.
The last airline to operate a scheduled service to Cooch Behar was Vayudoot in the late 1980s. The airport had been opened only once since. That was three years ago when Air Deccan operated a probing flight. However, operations did not resume as Air Deccan was acquired by Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines that did not see much commercial sense in the sector.
12/09/10 Subhro Niyogi/Times of India

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Categories: airports Sep 2010, New Sep 2010