The Hindu Business Line : Air India flight to Bangkok via Guwahati

AIR INDIA will operate twice-a-week service on the Mumbai-Kolkata-Guwahati-Bangkok sector from April 4. The flight is to be operated with a 200-seater Airbus A-310 aircraft on Thursdays and Mondays.

Besides offering the people of the North-Eastern region a convenient connection to Bangkok, the flight will also shorten the waiting time for passengers from the region wanting to travel to Europe and the US on Air India.

"The new flight will reach Mumbai just a little after midnight and all our connecting flights to Europe and the US are between 5 and 6.30 a.m.," an Air India official said.

Besides, Air India is hoping that travellers from the North-Eastern region will also utilise the flight for travel to-and-from Tokyo. Officials said that while Tokyo-bound passengers will get a direct connection while travelling from India, those arriving from Tokyo would have to spend 24 hours in Bangkok.

However, the airline is working on packages to ensure that the Japan-bound passengers have a useful stay while in transit. Further, officials at the Ministry of Civil Aviation are also hopeful that the flight will see a lot of Buddhist tourists visiting India.

"The new flight is likely to attract Buddhist tourists wanting to travel to Sikkim and other places. The flight will cut down their travel time as they will land directly in the North-Eastern region rather than having to travel from Kolkata," a senior Ministry official said.

Guwahati is the 12th Indian city from which Air India will commence operations. Currently, it operates services from Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Mum- bai and Thiruvananthapuram.

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