KOLKATA/SILIGURI: With the Bagdogra airport being shut for runway repairs from Monday, demand for trains and buses to north Bengal soared ahead of the Good Friday-Poila Baisakh long weekend.
Among the 10 trains available to New Jalpaiguri for April 15, tickets for AC 3-tier were available for only one train—a summer special introduced only last week—and second seating tickets were available on Teesta Torsha Express. Buses, too, are fast filling up, be it the ones operated by NBSTC or run by private operators. “Queries for seats have suddenly peaked. We mostly get last-minute travellers who don’t get train bookings and can’t afford flights. But this time, with flights off the radar for more than two weeks during the peak season, we are getting several flight passengers as well,” said a representative of Ghosh Travels at their Esplanade office, where buses to Siliguri leave on a regular basis.
Jadavpur resident Sutirtha Basu, who had planned a trip to Darjeeling with his family and friends, for the coming weekend, has started exploring travel options. “I will try to book tatkal train tickets but if I don’t manage tickets for the six of us, a bus is the next best option. I just hope the road condition is good,” said Basu.
As an alternative to the Bagdogra airport, people can fly to the Pakyong airport in Sikkim and then, take a car to north Bengal. But inclement weather had stalled flights to Pakyong from April 6 to Sunday. With the weather improving, services at Pakyaong airport resumed on Monday, offering the much-needed alternative to fliers from Kolkata and Delhi. “For the first time since April 6, both the scheduled flights from Kolkata landed in Pakyong on Monday. The occupancy level was, however, low owing to a dilemma among passengers over the bad weather, which had led to back-to-back flight cancellation over the last few days. We hope the weather stays good over the next 15 days and we can offer some respite to passengers who plan to fly to Bagdogra and visit north Bengal and Sikkim,” said Ramatanu Saha, Pakyong airport director.
An official of SpiceJet, the only airline operating flights to the Sikkim airport, said they had around 50% occupancy on the two flights from Kolkata but added that over the next one week, all scheduled flights were booked to capacity and there was not a single seat available on any of the aircraft.
Officials of Himalayan Hospitality & Tourism Development Network — an apex body of tourism stakeholders in north Bengal—said they were receiving frequent calls from tourists, seeking alternative means to reach the Hills. “Several bookings were cancelled after it was announced that the Bagdogra airport would be shut. Some have managed to get train tickets but their return tickets are on waiting lists. Some tourists are even taking trains till Darbhanga and then, cabs to Siliguri. We hope the runway work is completed within the stipulated time and we don’t miss out on any more tourists,” said the network’s general secretary, Samrat Sanyal.
Sangay Tenzing, president of Hoteliers’ Association in Darjeeling, said 70% tourists had called off their bookings following the airport closure.
