Ranchi, Oct. 30: The market monster has claimed its first aviation victim in the state.

Poor passenger traffic has prompted JetLite to announce cancellation of all its Ranchi flights from November 1. Though Birsa Munda Airport director A.V. Krishna said the airline had not sent a communiqué yet, officials said JetLite had already stopped bookings.

Air connectivity from Ranchi was on the verge of increasing manifold with SpiceJet and IndiGo planning to start operations. They had already conducted surveys and their Ranchi-Delhi and Ranchi-Calcutta flights were on the anvil.

But the market meltdown prompted them to put all plans on hold. And now the JetLite move will certainly put the projects on backburner. JetLite had earlier withdrawn two of its flights connecting Ranchi with Delhi and Mumbai.

Sources said bookings had already plunged by 30 per cent and may dip further if things remained unchecked. Almost all airlines, except IndiGo, have run into losses up to Rs 4,000 crore.

ZAV Airways has, however, decided to continue with its plan of connecting Ranchi with Darjeeling. The airline has already bought 20-seater small aircraft of UK make and is expected to start operations from December this year, once the DGCA shows the green light. The global economic downswing has, meanwhile, come as a boon for the Indian Railways. Demand for upper-class tickets in premium trains such as Rajdhani and Shatabdi has gone up. There has also been a 15-20 per cent increase in passenger traffic, confirmed DRM A.K. Dutta.