In addition to daily flight from Banglore: Mr Tom Wright, General Manager - South Asia, Middle East and Africa of Dragonair, flanked by Mr Rakesh Raicar (left), Regional Sales and Marketing Manager – South Asia, and Mr Yasser Ahmad, Sales Manager – East India, at a press conference in Kolkata on Wednesday. — A. Roy Chowdhury
Dragonair, a sister airline of Cathay Pacific Airways, plans to operate direct flights between Kolkata and Hong Kong soon.
The Kolkata-Hong Kong four-days-a-week service will be in addition to the airline's daily flight from Bangalore.
After 40 years
With the Dragonair's service, Cathay Pacific Airways is making a comeback to Kolkata almost after four decades.
The group discontinued its services to the city in 1970.
From October
The Hong Kong-headquartered airline was likely to start the service from Kolkata in October, once it gets the due approval from the airport authority after the completion of integrated terminal of Kolkata airport, Mr Tom Wright, General Manger, South Asia, Middle East and Africa, Dragonair, told the newspersons here on Wednesday.
“We are quite confident of the market in India. This new service to Kolkata marks an important step in building Dragonair's presence in the Indian market following the launch of flights to Bangalore in 2008,” Mr Wright said.
The airline was planning to focus on more than one segment for its flights to India, he pointed out.
According to a Dragonair official in-charge of South Asia operations, the airline would increase frequency in the near future.
“Sticking to the traffic rights, we will look forward to increase frequency. We will also modify the aircraft to increase capacity,” he said.
New Destination
While the airline is carrying out studies to evaluate the market in a couple of other metros in the country, it may consider Hyderabad as a priority destination after Kolkata.
“We are evaluating the market for a flight to Hyderabad after Kolkata,” the official said.
However, he did not divulge further details on the timeline.
> ayan.pramanik@thehindu.co.in
Published on May 23, 2012
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