The aircraft ready to take off from Chunapur air force station in Purnea on Tuesday. Picture by Mukesh Kumar Jha

Northern Bihar, Nepal and north Bengal have just got closer to Patna — not on the road but up in the sky.

Forty-five minutes is all that a flier would take to reach Patna from Purnea. The distance between the two cities is 320km by road and it takes eight hours by bus or six hours by train.

Spirit Air Private Limited, in association with Bangalore-based Door to Door Services (DTDS) Travel and Tour Planner Private Limited, on Tuesday started a chartered flight air service between Patna airport and Chunapur air force station, Purnea, and further to Calcutta.

Two nine-seater aircraft — Cessna 208B Grand Caravan — would operate every Tuesday and Saturday on the Purnea-Patna-Purnea route. People would have to pay Rs 3,495 for the 45-minute flight between Patna and Purnea and Rs 3,995 for the 75-minute journey from Purnea to Calcutta.

The excitement among the fliers was palpable, too.

Nand Kishore Singh, accompanied by wife Ranjana, was one of the six lucky fliers on the Purnea-Patna inaugural flight. After landing at Patna, Singh said: “This flight has saved me both time and money. Earlier, it took me four hours by road to go to Bagdogra airport in north Bengal, around 175km east of Purnea district headquarters, to catch a flight. Today, I reached Patna from Purnea in just 50 minutes without any hassle. However, we were not served even a bottle of drinking water despite being among the first passengers. On Bagdogra-Calcutta or Calcutta-Patna flights, we are served water, soft drinks, snacks and even full course meals.”

Shyamal Chakraborty, the sales manager of DTDS, told the media at Patna airport: “We have commenced operations on the Patna-Purnea-Calcutta route after receiving repeated requests for air connectivity. Spirit Air owns the aircraft and DTDS looks after the operations.” He added that seven seats were booked for Tuesday’s inaugural flight from Calcutta to Purnea and six from Purnea to Patna. According to sources, the flight is in demand among doctors, businessmen and other professionals from north Bihar, Nepal and north Bengal.

On Tuesdays, the flight would take off from Calcutta at 11am and touch down at Chunapur air force station at Purnea at 12.30pm. On Saturdays, the flight would depart Calcutta at 8am and land at Purnea at 9.30am. The flight would halt at Chunapur air force station for 20 minutes. On its next leg, it would land at Patna at 1.40pm on Tuesdays and at 11.30am on Saturdays before returning to Purnea. After a 45-minute interval at Patna, the flight would again leave for Purnea at 2.20pm on Tuesdays and 11.10am on Saturdays.

“Seats on our flights can be booked online on www.dtdsindia.com or through our authorised agents or by telephone by calling up our office at Patna on 0612-2227047 and at Calcutta on 033-32023792. The entire flight (comprising nine seats) can be booked at least 20 days in advance. Moreover, we would take individual bookings till five hours before the flight departure,” said Chakraborty.

Earlier, DTDS had started chartered flight services from Patna to Jamshedpur and Ranchi in February this year. However, the services were later suspended in June owing to less demand.

After arrival of the inaugural flight, wing commander of Chunapur air force station, Vishwajeet Kumar, said: “Air services from Purnea have always been extremely necessary and I am glad that it finally kicked off today. After 36 years, a private flight service has been resumed from Chunapur air force Station. Though the chartered flights would fly twice a week, the operator has offered to add an additional flight if the demand picks up.”

Earlier, air services were available between Chunapur air force station and Patna between 1956 and 1958 and again between 1974 and 1976. Thereafter, no commercial air service was available from Purnea.