Cooch Behar, March 2: Frequent cancellation of a single flight connecting Cooch Behar with Calcutta and other cities in Bengal without any stated reason has disappointed the business community here.

The nine-seater aircraft operated by the Spirit Air Private Limited has not landed at the Cooch Behar airport since Saturday. Neither the district administration nor the airline gave the reason for the cancellation.

The flight on the Durgapur-Calcutta-Cooch Behar-Bagdogra route is supposed to be operated on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The service started on New Year's Eve.

The Cooch Behar District Chamber of Commerce and Industries secretary, Rajendra Kumar Baid, expressed his dissatisfaction over the manner in which the air service had been handled from the very outset. "We are disappointed with the flight operation that has become very erratic. Despite procuring tickets, passengers could not board the flight on Saturday and yesterday. There is no guarantee that the flight will be operated tomorrow. The manner in which the services are being handled by the state government cannot be accepted by the people," said Baid.

He said the Northeast Shuttles had started operating a flight to Cooch Behar in 2011 and the service didn't continue even for a month. "The Northeast Shuttles wound up operations saying there were no passengers. After that, the state government resumed the flights by engaging Spirit Air Private Limited," Baid said.

The fare for the Durgapur-Calcutta flight was fixed at Rs 1,500, while it was Rs 2,500 for the Calcutta-Bagdogra route, Rs 1,500 for the Bagdogra-Cooch Behar journey and Rs 4,000 for the Calcutta-Cooch Behar trip. The fares from Durgapur to Bagdogra and Cooch Behar are Rs 5,500 and Rs 6,500, respectively.

According to sources in the airport here, the flight was operated regularly till January 23 and stopped till February 8 by the airline because of foggy conditions. "The service resumed on February 9 but since February 27, the flight has not been coming," a source said.

Asked about the flight, district magistrate P. Ulaganathan said he would make inquiries. "I have heard that the flight has not been operated since Saturday. I will try to find out what is happening."

Subodh Kant Verma, the business manager of Spirit Air, when contacted, said one of the directors, "Mr Lokesh", would be able to explain the situation. However, the director did not respond to repeated calls on his mobile phone.

Sources said Spirit Air ran the operations jointly with the Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Limited (BAPL). No official of the BAPL was available for comment.