AirAsia India is on an expansion spree, it plans to add its first route to Chennai, from Kolkata. AirAsia India will now connect Kolkata and Chennai with one daily flight with effect from 1 June 2019. The launch fare for the new route between Kolkata and Chennai is ₹3,299.
“Kolkata is a key market for AirAsia India as we currently operate 18 flights to 11 different destinations. The addition of this new route will strengthen up our connectivity in the east,” Sanjay Kumar, COO, AirAsia India, said.
According to AirAsia’s release, the flight i541 will depart from Kolkata at 3. 30 pm and will reach Chennai at 5.55 pm. The return flight i542 will take off from Chennai at 6.25 pm and will reach Kolkata at 8.55 pm.
High air fares and capacity constraints slowed India’s domestic air passenger traffic growth rate in March. As per the data of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), air passenger traffic growth rate in March rose a mere 0.14% to 115.96 lakh from 115.80 lakh reported for the corresponding month of the previous fiscal. According to the data, GoAir led the industry with 95% punctuality rate (on-time performance) at the four major airports of Bengaluru, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. It was followed by Vistara (91.9%), AirAsia India (91.9%) and IndiGo (89.5%).
Air Asia India, which started operations in June 2014, is a joint venture between Tata and AirAsia Berhad. It currently operates 164 flights a day, covering 19 destinations and carrying over 25,000 passengers.