Kolkata: The city is set to get several more international and domestic flights this winter with Emirates increasing frequency of services to Dubai, Indigo Airlines reconnecting international destinations and enhancing domestic frequencies, and Akasa Air also enhancing its connectivity from Kolkata. However, a direct flight to Europe remains elusive though the Kolkata airport director has personally reached out to Lufthansa, British Airways, Air India and IndiGo.Lufthansa has written back with a positive response but is non-commital on when it could resume the flights it had discontinued in 2012.Airport director Vikram Singh said the airport was gearing up for more flights starting Oct 25. On the international front, Emirates is set to increase its frequency from 11 a week at present to 12 a week with all its aircraft offering Premium Economy seats in its configuration. While the airline now operates the Boeing B777, it will switch to the Airbus A350 aircraft for the morning flights.IndiGo meanwhile is reintroducing flights to Shanghai and Siem Reap, and also starting a flight to Singapore from Oct 1. The first two flights were withdrawn after the outbreak of the Iran war.IndiGo, the largest airline to operate out of Kolkata with more than 110 daily departures, is also set to substantially enhance domestic flights with more frequencies in nearly all major routes. These include additional frequencies to Port Blair, Varanasi, Delhi, Chennai and Guwahati, apart from capacity hike to Surat.Akasa Air will increase daily departures from 10-11 flights at present to 17 flights from Oct 25. While it currently has two flights to Mumbai and one to Navi Mumbai daily, the count will go up to four daily to Mumbai, an additional flight to Mumbai on alternate days, and two flights to Navi Mumbai. The airline which currently operates two daily flights to Delhi will add a daily frequency to Noida. The flight count to Bengaluru will also increase from one daily to three. Also, the Port Blair service, which is on alternate days at present, will become daily in the winter schedule. Its frequency to Ahmedabad will also increase from one a day to twice daily.An airline source said two more flights were in the pipeline, including an operation to Jaipur and possibly another to an international destination that is yet to be decided.Airlines sources said Air India is set to reinstate three daily flights to Mumbai.Airport director Singh said both the domestic and international wings of the integrated terminal were gearing up for the additional flights and rise in passenger count. “We have ensured that the airport looks cleaner and the passenger experience is a better one,” he said.
