Patna, Oct. 18: Residents of the state capital will soon be able to fly to Purnea and Darbhanga on a comfortable chartered flight. For, a private company is set to launch the service next month.

Residents will also be able to travel to Calcutta, as well as Ranchi in Jharkhand and Rourkela in Orissa, in the private plane. The flight will also operate between Patna and Jamshedpur.

The take-off scheme of the charted flight service has, however, not been without a few initial hiccups.

Officials of Spirit Air Pvt. Ltd who are going to provide the aircraft said though the plan to launch the service has been in the pipeline for the past two years, it has been delayed because of lack of night parking space at Patna airport.

“For the past two years, we have been talking to various authorities concerned. We got the permission to operate the flight earlier. However, we were unable to get a night parking space at Patna airport,” said Suresh Prasad, the Spirit Air airport manager at Patna and Gaya.

“Now we have made arrangements for night parking in Calcutta and Ranchi. The services are most likely to start form the first week of November,” added Prasad.

Bangalore-based Door-to-Door Services (DTDS) will operate the services. They have hired the nine-seat Cessna 208B Grand Karwan aircraft from Spirit Air.

Sources said in towns that do not have airports, such as Darbhanga or Purnea, planes would land in state hangars.

DTDC head of marketing Leslie Marcar told The Telegraph over telephone from Bangalore: “We are all set to launch the service from Patna airport in the first week of November. The route chart and the tariff rate have been finalised.”

Marcar added: “The flights would be operated from airports of all the cities included in our services. State hangers may be utilised for the towns that do not have functional airports.”

Residents of the state capital are upbeat about the service on offer. “I have been waiting for a charter flight service from Patna for a long time,” said Gardanibagh resident Suresh Mishra.

He added: “The chartered flight would be very useful in times of emergency. It will also give us the option to take our friends, family or business associates on a comfortable flight. Our plans will not be impeded because of scarcity of air tickets. Travelling to neighbouring states or towns for pleasure or business will also be a lot easier with the launch for this service.”

The chartered flights will be available for various services such as celebration of birthdays or anniversary, for tourists and for business. One can also hire it as an air taxi.