Bihar and Jharkhand would soon have air taxi facility. Spirit Air, a private airlines, has decided to launch this service sometime in April this year.

The cities to be connected by this service, which is first of its kind in these two states, are Raxaul, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Valmiki Nagar, Muzaffarpur, Purnia, Bhagalpur, Gaya and Motihari in Bihar. In case of Jharkhand, the air taxi service from Ranchi would be available for Chaibasa, Bokaro, Jamshedpur, Daltonganj, Hazaribag, Giridih and Sindri.

To begin with, the airlines has decided to introduce just one aircraft, a Cessna-172 sky hawk aircraft, which would have the capacity to carry three passengers apart from the pilot.

"We would charge something between Rs 18,000 and 20,000 per hour from those booking our aircraft for chartered services," said a very senior Spirit Air official, adding, "Rates for flying hours and idle hours would be different, details of which would be announced very soon."

He said that the aircraft being introduced for the taxi service could be landed at places having airstrips and some other basic facilities to meet the flying safety norms and selection of cities, which are to be connected with this facility, have been made keeping these things in mind.

The official, who requested anonymity, also said that after the launch of the services, the airlines had plans to introduce one more aircraft, a Cessna Caravan, which would have capacity to carry nine passengers apart from the crew members. "Rates for this aircraft would be something between Rs 50,000 and Rs 55,000 per hour," he added.

The official said that the airlines had a national permit for providing air taxi service, but for now it has been decided to launch the services in Bihar and Jharkhand only. "We have opened our offices in Patna and Ranchi and space for keeping the aircrafts at Ranchi airport hanger has already been booked," he added.

Ranchi would work as the central hub for our operations due to its central location as far as states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and Chattishgarh are concerned, he said, adding, "The airlines would offer the air taxi facility giving connection to other states too in future."

Incidentally, only charted bookings can be made to avail the air taxi facility and they include bookings made by tourists and corporate houses.