Cooch Behar: Flight services between Calcutta and Cooch Behar will start this month, said officials of the Airport Authority of India and representatives of a private airline company that will introduce the service.

"On Thursday, we met officials of Deccan Charters Private Limited, an airline company that will run flights between Calcutta and Cooch Behar. We have handed over spaces for ticket counter, check-in counter and for the group support equipment to them. So far we know, the services are likely to start from the middle of this month," said Pradeepta Kumar Bej, the director of the airport.

Sources said the airline company will run the flight for six days in a week. It will depart from Calcutta at 9am and will arrive in Cooch Behar at 10.35am. While return, the flight will leave Cooch Behar at 10.55am to reach Calcutta at 12.10pm.

"It will be a 22-seater flight and will carry 19 passengers, other than the pilot, co-pilot and an airhostess," said Prasanna Kumar Jain, a Cooch Behar based businessman whose firm has been assigned with the responsibility of selling tickets and providing other assistant on ground.

According to him, the flight fare of first eight tickets will be Rs 2,500 while the remaining 11 tickets - for each flight-will have dynamic fares.

On Thursday, AAI sources said, the airline company has finished all necessary formalities, required before commencing the flight service. "We have been provided with necessary space to run counters and other facilities at the airport. The flight service will start soon," said Soumavo Roy, an official of the company posted in Calcutta.

This is the third time that flight services will start from Cooch Behar in the past seven years.

Earlier in 2011, after Trinamul came to power, another airline company had introduced the service between Calcutta and Cooch Behar but had withdrawn the service after a month.

Again, about a year back, another company was brought in, which started flight services in the same route. It continued for about four months but was withdrawn then.

"In both these cases, the reason was lack of adequate passengers. We hope it will not happen this time as the fare is low as compared to the earlier services," said an official of the district administration.