To cater to the festive rush, Air India on Thursday announced that it will temporarily operate additional flights to Kolkata from four Indian cities to meet greater travel demand to the city during the upcoming Durga Puja festivities. Starting 20 September 2024, Air India will operate daily, non-stop flights to Kolkata from Bengaluru and Hyderabad for nearly a month.
The airline has also increased frequency to Kolkata from Delhi effective 15 August 2024, and from Mumbai effective 25 September 2024. With these additions, Air India will increase frequency on the Delhi-Kolkata route from 28x weekly to 35x weekly flights, and on the Mumbai-Kolkata route from 21x weekly to 28x weekly.
The added flights will operate at convenient times, providing greater choice and ease to travellers who plan to visit their loved ones during the joyous festive season. Air India’s flights to/from Kolkata are also conveniently timed to enable seamless connections via its Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru hubs to/from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia, as well as several countries in Europe and Southeast Asia.
Airfares for key domestic routes increased by 10-15 per cent during the festival season, while flights to Kerala cities saw a 20-25 per cent rise. The analysis identified significant fare hikes on non-stop flights like Delhi-Chennai and Mumbai-Calicut. Some routes, however, experienced fare reductions by up to 27 per cent, driven by soaring demand for Diwali and Onam travel.
Last Month, the company announced that its flagship Airbus A350-900 aircraft will operate on Delhi-New York and Delhi-Newark routes from November 1, 2024, and January 2, 2025, respectively, transforming its passenger experience on these strategically important routes. Air India currently flies to five points in the United States, namely New York JFK, Newark, Washington DC, Chicago, and San Francisco.The airline operates 51x weekly flights to the United States from India. Since its first flight on October 15, 1932, Air India has built an extensive domestic network with non-stop flights to cities around the world, across the USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Far-East, South-East Asia, Australia, and the Gulf. After 69 years as a government-owned enterprise, Air India and Air India Express were welcomed back into the Tata group in January 2022.
