Patna, Sept. 16: Chief minister Nitish Kumar and Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda agreed on the need to restore air services between Patna and Kathmandu, something Prachanda assured he would take up with his Indian counterpart.

Nitish and Prachanda discussed the matter at a meeting at the Nepal Embassy in New Delhi last evening, and were convinced that resumption of the flight will help strengthen age-old ties between the countries. Prachanda is in Delhi with a 125-member delegation on a three-day visit.

"The Nepal Prime Minister was enthusiastic about resuming flights between Patna and Kathmandu," former diplomat turned JDU leader Pawan Kumar Varma told The Telegraph. "He said he would raise the matter with our Prime Minister."

The distance by road between the two places is around 350km and it takes 10-12 hours to cover it. He said the service would be of great use to those who visit Nepal and want to next visit places of Buddhist importance in Bihar.

Though the leaders are keen on the flight, infrastructure bottlenecks at Patna's Jayaprakash Narayan airport would have to be addressed first.

"The airport in Patna does not have a segregated departure area for international passengers," a senior official of Airports Authority of India (AAI) told The Telegraph.

"Neither does it have online immigration facilities to check passenger identity and red corner notices or alerts issued by national and international law enforcement agencies. These are a must for operating international flights."

A senior official in the state's cabinet secretariat department said the Nepal embassy had been requesting the ministry of external affairs to resume the flight but permission was not being granted owing to lack of space in the airport's parking bay. "In the absence of this route, flyers were having to reach Bihar after landing in Varanasi or New Delhi," the official said.

Nepal Airlines, Indian Airlines and a couple of private carriers were operating Patna-Kathmandu flights since the early 1960s. But the frequency declined because of dwindling passenger traffic. The last flights were operated by Nepal-based Necon Air, which shut operations in 2003 after being plagued by accidents and financial crises.

Nepal-based Buddha Air had tried to get permission to operate flights in this sector, but AAI denied it the same for lack of infrastructural facilities.