Airport, govt, travel industry pitch for Bengal-Europe link revival
Times of India | 27 March 2025
12 Kolkata: The airport operator in Kolkata, the state tourism department and associations representing travel agents will make a joint pitch to various European carriers, along with Air India (AI), to start direct flights to Kolkata. They assured that there were enough travellers to fill not one but two daily flights to London or Frankfurt, or even Amsterdam.
Similarly, they will write to Asian carriers Cathay Pacific, China Eastern Airlines, SriLankan Airlines, and Indian carrier IndiGo Airlines to restart international flights that were there prior to Covid but have not yet resumed.
The decision to reach out to European carriers British Airways (BA), Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, KLM, and Indian carrier AI for a direct connection to Europe was made at a meeting in Nabanna on Wednesday. It was convened by state home secretary Nandini Chakravorty and attended by Kolkata airport director Pravat Ranjan Beuria, Airport Operators Committee chairperson Anushila Chaturvedi, Travel Agent Association of India (TAAI) tourism council managing committee member and chairman Manav Soni, and TAAI eastern region chairman Anjani Dhanuka.
The initiative comes a day after the chief minister personally requested BA to resume direct flights between London and Kolkata. BA stopped flights between London and Kolkata in March 2009 after almost eight decades of operation. AI, which operated direct flights to London even after Covid, has withdrawn it as well.
Beuria said the Airports Authority of India (AAI) would try to attract more international flights to Kolkata and assured all possible assistance. "Kolkata is the sixth-busiest aviation hub in India and is capable of accommodating wide-body aircraft. It has facilities to handle 40 lakh more passengers than last year. The capacity will further increase by 20 lakh per annum by this year's end," he said.
TAAI's Soni pointed out that 75% of the passengers who currently travel by Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, and Air Arabia fly onward to Europe or America. These airlines together operate 32 flights a week, or over four daily flights. "The Gulf carriers are operating at nearly 97% capacity. Even when the last AI London flight operated to Kolkata, it went full. Loads have never been a problem on BA and Lufthansa flights either," said Soni.
0On claims by certain quarters that Kolkata does not have enough passengers to fill business class seats that have high yields, Dhanuka said that was no more so. "Emirates is carrying very good loads on their first and business class. Other Gulf carriers are also registering high loads on business class," he said.
Travel trade representatives also urged the state govt to reduce tax on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) to make operations to Kolkata more attractive. The state currently has 30% tax on ATF at present. The CM during the interaction with a BA representative in London on Tuesday said the state could offer special incentives to the airline if it starts operation to Kolkata.
There is another challenge that needs to be overcome and that is bilateral ties that limits the number of fights that will operate between the two countries. That call is taken by the ministry of external affairs.