AirAsia to launch Mumbai-Kolkata daily flight from 15 April; flight to strengthen airline's operations in the East

Mumbai: Low-cost carrier, AirAsia India Friday announced the launch of its flight services to Kolkata from the city next month. This would be airline’s second destination from Mumbai after it started operating daily services to Bengaluru from the country’s financial capital. AirAsia India will now fly connecting Kolkata and Mumbai, with one daily flight, effective 15 April, the airline said in a release Friday. [caption id=“attachment_4298073” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of an AirAsia aircraft. Reuters[/caption] The introduction of Mumbai-Kolkata route comes close on the heels of AirAsia India adding eighth additional flights to its network of 19 destinations. “We recently introduced the first connection between Bengaluru and Mumbai and are now adding a new connection between Mumbai and Kolkata. It’s a key market for AirAsia and this flight will strengthen our operations in the East. This new route is a manifestation of our future growth plan in these key and important business markets, said Sunil Bhaskaran, managing director and chief executive officer, AirAsia India. AirAsia India, a joint venture between Tata Sons and Malaysian airlines’ group AirAsia, currently operates to 19 domestic destinations with a fleet of 20 Airbus A320 planes. The group made its first entry in the Mumbai market with the launch of AirAsia Berhad services to here from Kuala Lumpur in May 2010. However, in 2012 it withdrew the route citing high airport charges. But came back again with its subsidiary Indonesian AirAsia X in May 2017, which was again discontinued in April last year.