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Bengal

Suspended flight services at Andal may resume before puja

Without giving up all hope, both the state government as well as the promoter of the airport at Andal, Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Limited (BAPL) – is leaving no stone unturned to resume the service.

The reason being, according to senior officials of the state government that there would be a huge investment in different sectors in the country and the flight service would be an important aspect in it.

The BAPL authorities had initiated talks with different airline companies in a bid to resume the service from Andal airport. It is learnt that two airline companies have shown keen interest in operating their flights from Andal to not only Delhi but also Mumbai and Patna.

If everything goes as planned, the service would resume from September, a month ahead of the Puja. As per the preliminary discussions, the flight service from Andal to Mumbai and Delhi via Kolkata will be twice in a week.

The discussions are on to decide the number of days in a week for the service between Andal and Patna, sources said.

It is learnt that the airline companies urged the airport authorities just to ensure that they get enough passengers. Thus there will be no need of any sort of compensation. The BAPL authorities have also assured that effort will be applied to ensure that the airline company gets enough passengers. There would be a few more meetings between the BAPL and the airline companies to discuss certain issues and to ensure that people do not face any inconvenience once the service is resumed.

In the letter to the state government, BAPL authorities have stated that Air India had withdrawn the service at a notice of only 48 hours despite being given compensation for keeping the operation running with less number of passengers.

In the letter, the BAPL authorities have also mentioned that Air India is continuing the service at different airports despite of facing a huge loss. But the decision of withdrawing the service was taken only for Andal Airport, sources said.

It may be mentioned that the state transport department has decided to approach the Centre to urge to start the Kolkata-Andal-Delhi flight service besides capping the airfare between Kolkata and Andal at Rs 2,500.
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