Dum Dum: Air Deccan, which pioneered low-cost air travel in India, will operate flights to 11 destinations from Calcutta starting this month under a regional connectivity scheme that caps fares at Rs 1,400-1,800 for most routes.

The airline will fly to Jamshedpur, Cooch Behar, Andal in Durgapur, Bagdogra and Rourkela, besides Shillong, Dimapur, Aizawl, Agartala, Silchar and Imphal.

Captain G.R. Gopinath, the chairman of Air Deccan, said on Monday that the first Calcutta-Jamshedpur flight would take off on February 15. By the third week of February, he expects the other routes to become operational.

"We will have two Beechcraft 1900D aircraft based in Calcutta. These are 19-seater planes. The aircraft are expected to reach Calcutta within a week," Gopinath said.

One of these aircraft will fly to Jamshedpur, Cooch Behar, Andal, Bagdogra and Rourkela. The second one will be for the Northeast routes.

The airline had bid for these routes under the central government's UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) scheme, which aims to revive airports equipped to handle commercial flights but are still not operational.

Gopinath said half of the 18 paid seats - one is reserved for the flight attendant - would be priced lower. Under UDAN, subsidy is extended to an airline as "viability gap funding", 80 per cent by the Centre and 20 per cent by the state. "Fares from Calcutta will be between Rs 1,400 and Rs 1,800 for most of the sectors. For the longest sector, the maximum fare will be Rs 2,000," Gopinath said.

If a passenger travelling to Jamshedpur books early, the fare will be Rs 1,400. For Shillong, the lowest fare will be around Rs 1,800. Air Deccan will sell nine seats on each flight for Rs 4,000-Rs 5,000.

"We are planning to initially operate flights six days a week. They will later become daily flights," Gopinath said.