Purnia was put back on the air map of the country after 34 years when the 9-seat Spirit Air aircraft flew passengers from the Chunapur defence airport, 10km from the divisional headquarters, to Patna.

PATNA/PURNIA:
The Spirit Air Private Limited, in association with Bangalore-based Door to Door Services Limited (DTDS), started the non-scheduled flight services on Kolkata-Patna-Purnia and Purnia-Patna-Kolkata routes. The flights would be operated twice a week on this route. The company is also keen to start Patna-Gaya non-scheduled flights soon.

 Air Force wing commander (WC) Viswajeet Kumar gave the green signal to the maiden flight in a jubilant atmosphere at the 11,000-foot-long Chunapur runway. "There could be no better Diwali gift than this," said V K Srivastav at the terminal.


WC Kumar said he would try his best to turn the airport into a "full-fledged air terminal" for direct flights to New Delhi and other destinations in the country.

"The bi-weekly Kolkata-Patna-Purnia and Purnia-Patna-Kolkata flights would operate every Tuesday and Saturday, to begin with. If there is a positive response, its frequency will be increased," said Spirit Air personnel manager Sachin Prasad. The flight takes just 50 minutes to fly from Purnia to Patna.

DTDS officials said they would fly even with a single passenger in the nine-seat Cessna 208 B Karwan aircraft (C208B). On the first day of their operation, the DTDS had booked all the tickets for Kolkata-Purnia, Purnia-Kolkata flights while seven seats were reserved in Purnia-Patna flight and only four seats were booked in Patna-Purnia flight.
Manager (sales), DTDS, Shyamal Chakraborty said, "We are planning to keep the ticket prices the same at least for next six months. It would be on a 'no-profit, no-loss' basis now."

Chakraborty said, "It costs around Rs 25,000 to the company for a single side operation which includes pilot's salary, landing and parking fee, passengers' services and routes and navigational facilitation charges (RNFC). But we will try not to suspend the operation."

He said there was demand for a flight from Patna to Purnia as a large number of doctors, bank employees and local businessmen move by air. "We have started the operation with two aircraft and a third one would be coming within six months. The Gaya airport is always busy with international tourists. A survey is going on at Bangkok, Rengun and other Buddhist sites to assess the demand for flights," he said.
Earlier, DTDS had started a charter flight on the Patna-Jamshedpur-Ranchi route in February. However, it was suspended in June because of poor passengers flow.

The SSB (Sashastra Seema Bal) DIG, K P Singh, complimented WC Kumar for restoring Purnia on the commercial air map.

Balurghat Airways and Jam Airways used to operate Purnia-Kolkata flight during 1956-58 and 1976-78, respectively. They, however, withdrew their services for want of adequate infrastructure, sources said.
Shambhu Nath Jha, whose family's 200 acres of land were acquired for the Chunapur airbase, said, "I feel proud that the land of my ancestors has now put Purnia on the country's air map."