Air India operates inaugural flight between Durgapur & Kolkata

NEW DELHI: Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport in Durgapur started commercial operations today with an Air India flight connecting Durgapur to Kolkata today. The flight may be upgraded to a bigger Airbus planes after 45 days of operations.

"The national carrier will monitor the market for the first 30 to 45 days and then upgrade it to an Airbus 319/320 or 321 depending on the loads," Partha Ghosh, Managing Director of Bengal Aerotropolis Private Ltd (BAPL), the company that built the airport and operate it, told ET.

Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport is a 650-acre airport and is the centrepiece of the Rs 10,000 crore Aerotropolis.

Ghosh added that the airport operator is also in talks with GoAir and SpiceJet to launch flights from Durgapur. “We are offering waiver from landing & parking charges and user development fee to airlines during the first year of their operations. A decision on continuing it for the second may be taken later,” said Ghosh.

These concessions are over and above the 100% sales tax exemption on Aviation Turbine Fuel till 2021 and a 25 per cent concession on the base fare of the tickets in four passenger categories – students and a section of the local population.