After cautious post-Cov return, int’l airlines set to ramp up seats with wide-body planes
Times of India | 30 March 2024
Kolkata: International airlines are gradually ramping up capacity on flights to Kolkata after making a cautious post-Covid comeback.
Thai Airways will from Monday nearly double its capacity by replacing the narrow-body Airbus A320 aircraft with wide-body Boeing B777-200 aircraft. This will increase the seat capacity from 168 per flight at present to 292 a flight.The airline may operate another wide-body aircraft, B787-800 with 256 seats on days when the B777 isn’t available. But an airline official said Kolkata would be serviced mostly with B777. Thai Airways will switch to the larger aircraft on the Bangkok-Kolkata-Bangkok sector from April 1 till April 30. While the capacity hike is aimed at making the most of the summer travel demand, the official said he hoped the airline would continue with the larger aircraft beyond April as well.
TOI on Wednesday reported on Singapore Airlines’s plan to use a wide-body aircraft more frequently from October.
Thai Airways used B777 on the Bangkok-Kolkata route before the pandemic grounded all flights. Once Covid restrictions were lifted and travel inched back, the airline struggled to revive operations and could do so only after the Thai government extended financial help. Bangkok-Kolkata, the airline’s second-oldest route operational since 1960, resumed on Oct 16, 2023, with a narrow-body aircraft. Now that the airline has recorded operational profits in the past three quarters after registering losses for the past 13 years, it has been able to increase its fleet and revive older routes that were shut due to Covid. Not only have all the routes to India been revived, the airline also added Ahmedabad to its network last year and will add Kochi next month.
“There was a demand to bring back business class on flights to Kolkata. The B777 aircraft will have a configuration of 30 business class seats,” the official said.
Travel Agents’ Association of India chairman (east) Manav Soni said the flight would be great for not only businessmen but also senior citizens. “Many travelling to Thailand, South East Asia, West Asia and Australia will fly Thai Airways,” he said.
Travel Agents’ Federation of India national committee member Anil Punjabi said the bigger aircraft would further boost tourist travel to Thailand, the most preferred international holiday destination for Kolkatans. “The provision for visa waiver for Indians is there till May. We expect it to be extended,” he said.