Air India to operate more international flights from Kolkata

Tuesday, 04 September 2007, 19:30 IST
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Agartala: India's national carrier Air India will soon operate more international flights from Kolkata and replace its Boeing aircraft with Airbus to connect most of the important capital cities in the northeast, officials said here Monday. "Air India would soon operate more international flights from Kolkata to the neighbouring countries and the services of the Guwahati-Bangkok flight would be improved," said V. Thulasidas, chairman of Air India, which was merged with Indian Airlines recently. Thulasidas was here to meet Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar to discuss modalities for introducing direct flights between Agartala and New Delhi. "Airports' infrastructure across the country, specially in the eastern part of India, needs to be developed to accommodate more aircraft in view of the growth of the various airlines," the chairman said. He said that with the introduction of several new private airlines there would be healthy competition in the aviation sector. "We are ready to face the challenge and operate air services, both within the country and abroad," Thulasidas said. He, however, cautioned about the low cost airlines and the competition among different operators for cheap tickets. "Fixing of fare is a part of the competition among the airlines, and there has to be a balance in fixing the price of tickets for the survival of the airlines as well as getting affordable and better services by the passengers," the Air India chairman said.
Source: IANS