Air India resumes direct flights from Kolkata to London after 11 years
By Team Newsable | First Published Sep 17, 2020, 3:02 PM ISTAfter 11 years, the Kolkata-London direct flight service resumed today (September 17). According to airport sources, Kolkata-London direct flight service will be available two days a week. Flights from London to Kolkata will be available every Wednesday and Saturday and flights from Kolkata to London will be available every Thursday and Sunday.
After 11 years, the Kolkata-London direct flight service is resumed today (September 17).
According to airport sources, Kolkata-London direct flight service will be available two days a week. Flights from London to Kolkata will be available every Wednesday and Saturday.
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Now, Air India will restart the CCU-LHR double frequency from today (September 17) to October 24. So far, these two weekly flights are just part of ‘Vande Bharat repatriation Mission’.
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Flights from Kolkata to London will be available every Thursday and Sunday. According to sources, the state had a long-standing demand for direct Kolkata-London flights. Therefore, the flight services are likely to continue even after the closure of the Vande Bharat Mission.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been seeking direct flights from Kolkata to London since she came to power in 2011. But the airline companies denied to operate Kolkata-London flight thinking that there will be less number of passengers and they would incur a huge loss.
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Earlier, there were regular direct flights from Kolkata to London. Apart from Air India, British Airways also operated Kolkata-London flight. Due to less number of business class passengers, Air India had to stop running direct flights from Kolkata to London.
In March 2009, British Airways also stopped running direct flights from Kolkata to London. Since then, all the direct flights stopped running between Europe and Kolkata.
According to sources, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee gave a green signal to Kolkata after the proposal for 'Vande Bharat repatriation Mission’ came. A section of the state administration wants to see this Kolkata-London direct flight service as a success in West Bengal. However, according to Air India sources, flights from Kolkata to London will continue even after the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’.
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