Kolkata wants Europe flights to return – chief minister talks to civil aviation minister

Once upon a time the Kolkata airport had several International Airlines like BOAC, Lufthansa, Japan Air Lines apart from Air India operating services to different European countries – but, the absence of enough passengers and, more importantly, high-value business travelers led to their departure. Kolkata became a low-priority destination for European airlines.
However, chief minister Mamata Banerjee wants them to come back and, hence, she had a meeting with civil aviation minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju who has indicated that he would request Air India to consider reintroducing direct flights to Europe from Calcutta.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 25 September 2015.

In the course of a meeting held in Nabanna with chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the civil aviation minister remarked that the state government's major concerns were direct flights to Europe and inactive airports in the state. He agreed to take up the matter of direct flights to Europe with Air India.
He also added that Air India have to follow a system to follow but, everyone has to work together to motivate the airlines in order to bridge the gap. Air India, British Airways and Lufthansa had the permission to operate direct flights between Calcutta and Europe – they would require sufficient number of business-class passengers to get motivated.
Air India had withdrawn its direct flight between Europe and Calcutta in 2007 for "commercial and operational" reasons – a euphemism for lack of passengers.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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