Kolkata to get direct flights to Udaipur, Jodhpur, Coimbatore – Times of India

The addition of new flights will take the number of movements (arrivals and departures) in Kolkata to nearly 390, up from 300-350 at present

KOLKATA: The city will get direct flights to Udaipur, Jodhpur and Coimbatore and one-stop connections to Leh, Kanpur, Bhavnagar and Jaisalmer from next month with IndiGo and SpiceJet adding several new flights on these sectors.
The addition of new flights will take the number of movements (arrivals and departures) in Kolkata to nearly 390, up from 300-350 at present. Currently, the flight count is high on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays when there is no embargo on flight arrivals from Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. On other days of the week, the count dips sharply.
SpiceJet has written to the Bengal chief secretary, requesting for the embargo on flights from three states to be withdrawn as travel demand has shot up. The passenger count at Kolkata airport is poised to increase from around 45,000 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to around 55,000-60,000. That is almost at the pre-pandemic level. With international fights yet to become operational, the daily passenger count is lower than the pre-pandemic level by around 7,000-8,000.
IndiGo that currently operates 88 flights out of Kolkata will add direct flights to Jodhpur from October 31. The airline will also add direct flights to Udaipur and Coimbatore from November 2. IndiGo’s aircraft movements at Kolkata airport has increased from 42 in May to 80 in June to 104 in July to 176 in October.
The other low cost carrier, SpiceJet, is also augmenting flights from Kolkata. While it will operate a direct Kolkata-Udaipur flight on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, one-stop connections to Leh, Kanpur, Bhavnagar and Jaisalmer are on the anvil.
While the new routes will be convenient, airlines are hoping the curbs on flights from Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Pune are removed soon as these are the high-traffic sectors. “Airlines here are still awaiting the DGCA clearance for the refreshed slots to accommodate full capacity of flights. But once its allowed, passenger footfall will certainly increase further at the airport. If there is no renewed Covid surge and all state restrictions are also withdrawn, we will reach the pre-Covid count by the end of this year,” said Kolkata airport director C Pattabhi.