One step forward, one step back — that seems to be the not-so-cool equation between Calcutta and cool cabs this hot, hot April.

If all goes well, you might soon be able to get off the plane and slip into an air-conditioned radio taxi, that too without the hassle of booking one in advance. The bad news is, Calcutta lost one of its two radio taxi fleets — Kolkata Cabs — a fortnight ago.

On Thursday, the Airports Authority of India informed Mega Cabs that it would be allowed to start operating at the city airport “30 days from today”.

“After pursuing the matter for years, we have got permission to operate for a monthly fee of Rs 3 lakh. The number of counters hasn’t been fixed yet, but we plan to ask for at least two,” said Binod Mishra, vice-president of Mega Cabs.

Kolkata Call Taxi Private Ltd, which runs Mega Cabs, had first written to the AAI in January 2010 for counters and followed it up with repeat letters at regular intervals, highlighted by Metro on November 17, 2010. But the Left Front-run transport department refused to end the monopoly of the prepaid taxi service run by the Bengal Taxi Association (BTA), citing a 1993 order.

Now that Mega Cabs has managed to steer its way in, the association has said it is okay with some competition. “Radio cabs may operate from the airport. We don’t have anything to say about that,” said BTA president Bimal Guha.

Permission in hand, Mega Cabs is set to increase its city fleet from 200 to 500. It will be hiring heavily as well. “We will be allotted space to park 25 cabs near the airport,” vice-president Mishra said.

While Mega Cabs is expanding, Kolkata Cabs quietly signed off on April 1, almost four years after starting operations in the city. The Mumbai headquarters of Orix, which ran Kolkata Cabs, declined to comment on the pullout.

“I don’t know the exact reasons, but I can tell you that Orix was finding it difficult to run its fleet here because of low returns,” said an employee, on condition of anonymity.

The official said that while bookings were “decent” for weekends or occasions like Durga Puja or New Year’s Eve, demand was overall “poor”.

“Also, it’s difficult to run radio taxis in Calcutta because of low pricing,” a source said.

Mishra of Mega Cabs admitted that margins were under pressure because of pricing. “In any other city, the fare is Rs 20 per km, be it Delhi or Ludhiana. But in Calcutta, we have to ply our cabs at Rs 15 per km,” he rued.

So why expand operations in the city? “It’s only with an eye on the future that we are scaling up operations there,” he said. “The price per kilometre really needs to be raised.”

But with the Mamata Banerjee government baulking at the suggestion of any hike in the price of public transport, a fare raise is unlikely in the near future, sources said.