The soaring flight count in “upwardly mobile” Calcutta has hit an air pocket. Light passenger load is forcing airlines to prune operations from Dum Dum airport.

Kingfisher airline, which withdrew daily flights to Port Blair and Chennai on Monday, is the latest to trim its roster. “The decision was prompted by poor load factor on the two routes,” an official of the airline said on Tuesday.

Air India, too, recently stopped operating from Calcutta to Jaipur-Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar-Chennai and Hyderabad. Last Puja, Air India had withdrawn its daily flight to Bangkok. It was replaced by low-cost Air India Express flights thrice a week.

Malaysia Airlines had stopped its thrice-a-week flight from Calcutta in 2006. Jetstar Asia followed suit.

Officials said “operational reasons” prompted the move, but sources maintain poor passenger count is to blame. “Over the past year, the number of flights from Calcutta has grown faster than the number of passengers,” said a senior official of the Airports Authority of India (AAI). While the number of flights has grown 28 per cent over one year, the passenger count has increased by 25 per cent, according to an AAI survey.

“Calcutta is still a seasonal market for most sectors. Barring one or two routes, there is not much demand for seats throughout the year. It will take another three to four years for the situation to change,” predicted a senior airport official.

The Puja, summer and Christmas holidays are when even the tickets in the highest fare bracket are sold out. For the rest of the year, the average passenger load varies between 40 per cent and 60 per cent.

For instance, on Tuesday evening, half the seats were vacant on the flights to Chennai, 35 per cent to Bangalore, 40 per cent to Hyderabad and 70 per cent to Dhaka, according to airport officials.

“Most airlines do not conduct proper surveys before launching operations. Political compulsions and the need for a presence also play a part,” added the official.