Air India Express launches Kolkata-Port Blair daily flights

Kolkata: Air India Express on Sunday launched daily flights from Kolkata to Sri Vijaya Puram (Port Blair) as a part of its network expansion in the region.

“Exciting news! Air India Express (IX) has launched daily flights from Kolkata to Port Blair, with the inaugural flight taking off today at 05:40 hrs, carrying 175 passengers. #AirIndiaExpress #KolkataToPortBlair #NewRoute,” the Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials of Kolkata airport posted on X.

The inaugural Kolkata-Sri Vijaya Puram flight took off at 5.40 am, offering travellers a well-timed direct flight to the scenic Andaman Islands, the airline said in a statement.

Starting December 15, the airline will introduce an additional daily flight on this route, offering twice-daily connectivity between the city of joy and the tropical paradise, it said.

The inaugural flight celebrations at Kolkata airport included decorated check-in counters, sweet distributions and the ceremonial presentation of boarding passes to the guests. Meanwhile, starting December 27, low-cost carrier IndiGo will begin operating direct flights between Kolkata and Phuket, the airline said.

This will be IndiGo’s second direct flight to Phuket, following Delhi.

The new route will expand IndiGo’s global network and cater to the growing number of tourists from India to Thailand, the airline said in a statement.

“We are pleased to further expand our network into Thailand, from Kolkata, now adding a daily flight to Phuket in addition to the existing 11 weekly flights to Bangkok. With this new route, IndiGo will now operate 93 weekly flights between India and Thailand,” the statement quoted Vinay Malhotra, head of global sales at IndiGo, as saying.