Airlines like Lufthansa and British Airways shun Kolkata because of low demands

The director of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata has admitted that poor demand is one of the main reasons why European airlines like Lufthansa or British Airways are not keen to fly from the Calcutta skies.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 18 July 2015.

There is a need to have corporate travelers, who are not price sensitive and who usually form the backbone of the market for such airlines. But, these ae few in number in the state due to lack of industry in the state. Instead Kolkata airport sees seasonal rush of holiday-makers and the admission season exodus of students.
It seems the airport authorities had approached some European carriers but the necessary response was not there because of the lack of enough business travelers – airlines have to sell high-yield seats to make a profit on a route. Lufthansa used to operate from Kolkata but had withdrawn in March 2012 when its Calcutta-Frankfurt service failed to generate enough revenue. British Airways had also withdrawn for the same reason.
The trouble is that the international air traffic for Kolkata consists of mostly tourists and traders and that also is seasonal. Incidentally, only 30 per cent of the tickets sold on flights to and from Calcutta are for business travel. In comparison, the figures for Mumbai and Delhi are 70 per cent while it is 60 percent in Bangalore.
Obviously, input of foreigners would be liked with business opportunities apart from good infrastructure. These need to be improved to attract foreigners.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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