Nabanna meeting focuses on flight connectivity between Kolkata and Europe

Kolkata: Following the Chief Minister’s recent appeal to the representatives of British Airways to start a direct Kolkata-London flight, a meeting was held in the city on Wednesday involving the Kolkata airport officials, state government and travel agents to discuss international connectivity from the city.

The Kolkata airport shared on its X handle on Wednesday that a meeting was held between the airport director PR Beuria, Nandini Chakraborty, principal secretary, Home department at Nabanna. It was attended by Airlines Association chairperson and Tour & Travel Association representatives to “discuss new international connectivity from Kolkata”.

It was learnt that various European air carriers will be appealed to start direct flights to Kolkata. It was assured that there were enough passengers from here who would travel to destinations such as London, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.

The decision to reach out to European carriers such as British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, KLM, and Indian carrier Air India for a direct connection to Europe was made at the Nabanna meeting, it was learnt.

Further, requests will also be made to the Indian airline IndiGo, apart from Asian carriers such as Cathay Pacific, China Eastern Airlines, Sri Lankan Airlines etc to restart international flights that were there prior to Covid but have not yet resumed. Sources said that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) would try to draw more international flights to Kolkata and extend all cooperation for the same. The Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport is capable of accommodating wide-body aircraft.

The British Airways stopped flights between London and Kolkata in March 2009 after almost eight decades of operation. Air India, which operated direct flights to London even after Covid, has withdrawn it as well.