few for drukair thai flight

BAGDOGRA: Few for Drukair Thai flight

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Siliguri, July 31: The only foreign airline operating from the Bagdogra airport is struggling to get enough passengers at a time there are demands from every corner in north Bengal to accord international status to the aerodrome.

Drukair operates two flights a week on the Paro-Bagdogra-Bangkok route. The first and only airline to introduce international flights from Bagdogra uses the Airbus 319 for the service. While the flight from Paro lands in Bagdogra en route to the Thai capital on Tuesdays and Saturdays, the return trips are made on Wednesdays and Sundays.

“We are getting 20 to 30 passengers on the Bagdogra-Paro sector, but not even five seats on the Bangkok flight are booked,” said Chencho Dorji, the station manager of the Drukair at the Bagdogra airport. “The flights are regular. But considering that the number of people availing of the flight here is less, we are selling the seats reserved for Bagdogra in Paro itself.”

The airline is charging Rs 1,500 a passenger for the Bagdogra-Paro trip, which is 30-minute long, and Rs 6,500 for the Bagdogra-Bangkok route. For a return trip from Bangkok, the fare is Rs 10,000.

The airline launched its services in the sector on June 20.

The official, however, said almost all the seats for Bagdogra-Paro flight for the coming weeks had been reserved.

The abysmally low number of passengers to Bangkok has left the airline concerned. “We can’t run our flight empty and incur losses. We are thinking of alternatives like taking more passengers from Paro. However, there are chances that we will start getting more passengers as more and more people, particularly international tourists, learn about the flight,” said Dorji.
Officials at the Bagdogra Airport are, however, optimistic. “It is true that the number of passengers to Bangkok is less now. However, we are optimistic that the passenger traffic will rise, especially in the ensuing tourist season during the Durga Puja holidays. The steady number of passengers availing of the Paro-bound flight is an indicator that people have been making use of the facility to reach Bhutan,” said an official.

Those associated with the tourism industry in the region also spoke positively about the flight.

“We have been receiving several international enquiries on this new air connectivity, particularly from the monks in Thailand and other tourists who plan to cover the Buddhist circuit spread over north Bengal, Nepal and Bhutan,” said Samrat Sanyal, the secretary of the Eastern Himalaya Travel and Tour Operators’ Association.