Air India Announces Asia Expansion

Air India has announced an expansion of service towards Asia as part of its commitment to growth.

Air India To Launch Kolkata To Bangkok

The Indian flag carrier says it’ll be introducing from 23 October 2023 a nonstop service between Kolkata and Bangkok.

The belief is that the connection will be hugely important to direct connectivity between the two major cities.

The service will operate as an AI322, departing from Kolkata at 2200 before touching down in Bangkok at 0205 the following morning.

Air India notes that the return flight will operate as AI321. This flight will depart one hour after it arrives at 0305 before touching back down in Kolkata at 0410.

Airbus narrowbody aircraft will operate on the service and be configured in a two-class configuration.

Air India says the flight will operate six days a week from Monday to Saturday. Therefore, Sunday is the only day the service won’t run.

Bangkok Enjoying Strong Growth

Bangkok is enjoying much growth thanks to Air India, which offers 14 weekly flights between Bangkok and cities within India.

Notably, nonstop flights from Delhi to Mumbai are available from Bangkok.

The carrier says this is all part of its continued mission to transform as a global carrier. It wants to offer more opportunities and availability to its customers with enhanced connections.

The Bangkok Airways Agreement

The Indian airline also says its customers should be excited by the Bangkok Airways partnership.

The interline agreement with Bangkok Airways will see the convenient connections established by Air India built upon. This includes ten popular destinations that are accessible thanks to the Thailand-based carrier.

Bangkok Airways operates a fleet of 20 aircraft spread across several aircraft types. However, it does fly the Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft alongside the ATR72.

Air India’s Transformation Program

Air India is undergoing a significant transformation program, with the airline saying that it hopes to become a world-class airline.

The first phase of the transformation included fixing the basics of the airline. The major carrier says this has now concluded.

Generally, the taxi phase, as labelled, saw bringing many grounded planes back to service, finding talent across the group and upgrading technology.

However, many would argue that Air India still has a substantial way to go before becoming a world-class airline.

Having committed to 470 aircraft and a significant rebrand, Tata Group remains hopeful that this costly turnaround will eventually be worth it.