Kolkata (CCU) | Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport

[sabya99]

Originally Posted by avishar

Well the problem isnt the terminal,the problem is connectivity.More international routes have to started from kolkata and tap the sizeable bengali NRI traffic that seems content in using the service of delhi and mumbai.

I disagree. Once an "international terminal" is build with air bridges, parking bays , adequate departure and arrival terminal many more airlines will think of using CCU as their destination. However govt. officials at CCU dont know what is an " international terminal". They should visit IGI or Bom international terminal to get a first hand look of an international terminal!!

[Suncity]

Photos copyright superspotter

1 - Air India


2 - Air India Regional



3 - Another Air India Regional



4 - Air India Cargo - Gati



5 - Air India Cargo - India Post



6 - Indigo Airlines



7 - Blue Dart



8 - Paramout Airways



9 - JetLite



10 - Kingfisher



11 - Jet Airways



12- Spicejet

[Suncity]

A few more...

photos copyright superspotter

That crane!



Coast Guard

[sidney_jec]

oh so the snobbish Air India does have some flights to the city..
doesn't it hurt its prestige if it flies out of a place except Delhi/Bombay/Kerela??

[bobbie501]

That's why it's under loss making one rather expanding into more potential markets by choosing Hyderabad,Kolkata & Bangalore as hubs.

[sidney_jec]

m not sure whether i understood u..
but Kolkata as Air India hub..nooooooooh

[bobbie501]

for NE region of India Kolkata can serve as a hub airport for AI but donno what's going on in their mind.

[sidney_jec]

ok so u meant that..
exxactly..
right now for other airlines its a sort of hub for NE..
but AI has a fetish for Del/Bom..
Kolkata can even develop as a hub for far east..
but ppl just won't look beyond the top 2..

[sabya99]

Suncity,
These are very nice pictures. But it also shows rapid urbanization very close to airport. This might create problem in the future with wide body aircraft operation like New York LGA airport. It also shows some construction activity near integrated terminal and also runway extension work still going on. Any idea when it will be over?
Anandabazar Patrika reports north Bengal town Coach Bihar will be connected to CCU by a 9 seat aircraft flight . A north east based company is taking the initiative since all major airlines are not interested with this town of north Bengal. If there are real demands ( !?) they will consider a ATR flight.

[killerk]

Originally Posted by sidney_jec

oh so the snobbish Air India does have some flights to the city..
doesn't it hurt its prestige if it flies out of a place except Delhi/Bombay/Kerela??

whether you like it or not, Kerala has been their only profitable route lately!!

[SarafIndian]

Cool Photos Sun.

[killerk]

Originally Posted by bobbie501

That's why it's under loss making one rather expanding into more potential markets by choosing Hyderabad,Kolkata & Bangalore as hubs.

so you are saying HYD, BLR and CCU should become Air India "HUBS" over Mumbai and Delhi???

Air India is loss making partly because it does not use its hubs in Mumbai and Delhi efficiently!! in simple terms....you fly from NY-NJ area to Mumbai you have to wait 10 hrs in Mumbai/Delhi to get the next flight to your home city of Vizag or any other city in India....again not everyone flying from NY-NJ originates from there...a significant percentage of passengers are from other US cities....!! I would just take qatar airways or emirates or Lufthansa or or KLM or British airways and fly one stop from Houston with less than 3 hr transit time at their hubs to cities in India for similar fares....

Mumbai and Delhi are among the busiest airports in the world.....!!! perfect places to perfect the hub concept...

If you check the AAI statistics, Cochin handles way more international passengers per year than Hyd or Blr...Do you the amount of bureaucracy that the city and the state had to go through to come up with this airport???
If Air India has not realized the potential of the airports you mention there are 100 other international airlines who are studying that.....but then why are'nt all of them fly to Hyd, Blr or Kolkata????

As a frequent flier on the Royal Brunei flights between Kolkata and Dubai once upon a time, I can tell you very clearly one thing I observed and that is there is only a seasonal demand for flights to Kolkata....2 months in summer and 1 month in winter....
There have been instances with less than 40 passengers disembarking at Kolkata...Druk air from Paro, Bhutan that landed 10 minutes later had more passengers at the immigration!! (it was a London, Dubai, Kolkata, Singapore, Bandar Seri Begawan flight, so the plane was full of passengers flying to Singapore and Australia...Kolkata was just a fuel stop, which is why they terminated it after they got hold of newer long haul aircrafts...surprisingly it was the only flight from Middle east to east India that too just twice a week, still load factors were dismal...)

What you said can happen...if tomorrow Delhi and Mumbai airports shut down all together....a paradigm shift in Indian aviation or if Mamta Bannerjee becomes Civil Aviation Minister....(policy related issues are also to be blamed in India...but Kerala is a state that has shown that in spite of bad central and state aviation policies, if airlines want to fly anywhere, they will just do that....The people realized the potential of a "state of Kerala" owned airline to fly to the middle east, and there were millionaires in the Middle east ready to sponsor such an airline....the Central Govt realized their loss if that happened and came up with the stupid 5 year international flight rule and Air India Express to pacify the huge diaspora of Non Resident Keralites Mangloreans and Tamilians in the Middle East....I still cannot understand how the state worked out the private airport company, CIAL, given that the 2 main political parties in the state have contradictory ideologies)

Why did Kingfisher stop the Bangalore-London flights and Kuwait Airways the Kuwait-Hyderabad flights and BA the Kolkata-London flights....obviously it has something to do with passengers load factors....that too during recession times, no airline will dare to totally stop even minor profit making routes!!

[killerk]

Kolkata IS the hub for north eastern Indian flights!! no competition there....and the AAI domestic passenger figures clearly show that to be the case!!

[arijeetb]

Originally Posted by sabya99

Suncity,
These are very nice pictures. But it also shows rapid urbanization very close to airport. This might create problem in the future with wide body aircraft operation like New York LGA airport. It also shows some construction activity near integrated terminal and also runway extension work still going on. Any idea when it will be over?

That is AA3 of New Town. I sometimes wonder how they ( Shrachi, Ambuja etc) managed to get approvals from AAI for such heights, falling in the direct path within a 2 km radius from the airport.

[Suncity]

Originally Posted by sidney_jec

oh so the snobbish Air India does have some flights to the city..

Indian Airlines always had a hub in Kolkata. Indian Airlines is now Air India. That explains the Air India colours in Kolkata. Before the "merger" Air India tails were a rarity in Kolkata airport.

Air India has introduced two 'international' flights daily from Kolkata. AI101 connects Kolkata to JFK and AI 111 connects Kolkata to London. Passengers can do their immigration/customs in Kolkata and change aircrafts in Delhi without having to change terminals. I have recently heard from at least three people, who have flown on the JFK-CCU-JFK sector, that the experience wasn't that bad flying Air India. Unflortunately I think Air India doesn't advertise these flights that much. So many people kind of like raise their eyebrows when they hear that Air India does provide a somewhat convenient connectivity on this route.

AI101 Kolkata New Delhi 2000 2215 A321 NonStop Daily (to JFK)
AI102 New Delhi Kolkata 2000 2210 A320 NonStop Daily (from JFK)
AI111 Kolkata New Delhi 1030 1240 A319 NonStop Daily (to LHR)
AI112 New Delhi Kolkata 1330 1535 A319 NonStop Daily (from LHR)

Strange though it may sound, Air India doesn't have any international flights from Kolkata connecting through Mumbai! A long time back they had like twice a week or something. Anyway I think Delhi is more convenient as an international hub for Kolkatans because flying time is less.

BTW Air India (erstwhile Indian Airlines) flies to Yangon and Kathmandu and Air India Express flies to Bangkok, Singapore and Dhaka from Kolkata.

[bobbie501]

Originally Posted by killerk

so you are saying HYD, BLR and CCU should become Air India "HUBS" over Mumbai and Delhi???

why not?
there are good number of passengers originating from A.P to the U.S daily who are finding it difficult to come from coastal districts transit through Mumbai or Delhi since it takes lot of time for them as Hyderabad is closest destination which is easy accessible,they find more satisfied transiting through Hyderabad over Mumbai or Delhi.

[sidney_jec]

Originally Posted by Suncity

BTW Air India (erstwhile Indian Airlines) flies to Yangon and Kathmandu and Air India Express flies to Bangkok, Singapore and Dhaka from Kolkata.

oh so they have changed the livery..
good for them..
anyways i am aware of the rest of the flights but the Air India Express to Singapore??
when did this one start?

[rupakd]

Passenger footfall at Calcutta airport has taken a beating, dropping four per cent in the first quarter of 2009-10 compared with the same period the previous year.Cargo traffic has taken even a bigger hit, reeling from a 10 per cent negative growth.
A survey at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport has revealed that international passenger movement has gone up by two per cent against a five per cent slide in the number of domestic fliers, causing an overall dip of around four per cent between April and June.
The number of international flights from the city has gone up by 20 per cent (mostly on south and Southeast Asia sectors) but domestic flights have come down by 10 per cent.
This was in sharp contrast to fiscal 2006-07 which saw a 42 per cent rise in domestic movement and eight per cent rise in the international sector, on the wings of a buoyant economy.
Aviation and travel industry sources attribute the two per cent growth in international traffic to an “increase in trade activities” and the recent introduction of additional flights to Bangkok and Dhaka.
“The introduction of low-cost carriers to Southeast Asia and Dhaka has resulted in more passenger movement on the routes. Business traffic constitutes the maximum load,” said Anil Punjabi, the chairman (east) of the Travel Agents Federation of India.
Between April and June, around 9,000 metric tonnes of cargo moved in and out against 10,000 metric tonnes in the same period last year.

Source: The Telegraph

[sabya99]

Originally Posted by Suncity

Indian Airlines always had a hub in Kolkata. Indian Airlines is now Air India. That explains the Air India colours in Kolkata. Before the "merger" Air India tails were a rarity in Kolkata airport.

Air India has introduced two 'international' flights daily from Kolkata. AI101 connects Kolkata to JFK and AI 111 connects Kolkata to London. Passengers can do their immigration/customs in Kolkata and change aircrafts in Delhi without having to change terminals. I have recently heard from at least three people, who have flown on the JFK-CCU-JFK sector, that the experience wasn't that bad flying Air India. Unflortunately I think Air India doesn't advertise these flights that much. So many people kind of like raise their eyebrows when they hear that Air India does provide a somewhat convenient connectivity on this route.

AI101 Kolkata New Delhi 2000 2215 A321 NonStop Daily (to JFK)
AI102 New Delhi Kolkata 2000 2210 A320 NonStop Daily (from JFK)
AI111 Kolkata New Delhi 1030 1240 A319 NonStop Daily (to LHR)
AI112 New Delhi Kolkata 1330 1535 A319 NonStop Daily (from LHR)

Strange though it may sound, Air India doesn't have any international flights from Kolkata connecting through Mumbai! A long time back they had like twice a week or something. Anyway I think Delhi is more convenient as an international hub for Kolkatans because flying time is less.

BTW Air India (erstwhile Indian Airlines) flies to Yangon and Kathmandu and Air India Express flies to Bangkok, Singapore and Dhaka from Kolkata.

Ai 101/102 from JFK have become quite popular inspite of Emirates double daily flight. Fares are cheaper and waiting time in IGI is 3 hrs and not 4.5hrs. in Dubai. We need similar flight from EWR also! This competition between Ai and Emirates is good for CCU based NRI, void left by BA has been filled and now we have even more connectivity from wast.

[sabya99]

Originally Posted by killerk

As a frequent flier on the Royal Brunei flights between Kolkata and Dubai once upon a time, I can tell you very clearly one thing I observed and that is there is only a seasonal demand for flights to Kolkata....2 months in summer and 1 month in winter....
There have been instances with less than 40 passengers disembarking at Kolkata...Druk air from Paro, Bhutan that landed 10 minutes later had more passengers at the immigration!! (it was a London, Dubai, Kolkata, Singapore, Bandar Seri Begawan flight, so the plane was full of passengers flying to Singapore and Australia...Kolkata was just a fuel stop, which is why they terminated it after they got hold of newer long haul aircrafts...surprisingly it was the only flight from Middle east to east India that too just twice a week, still load factors were dismal...)

Why did Kingfisher stop the Bangalore-London flights and Kuwait Airways the Kuwait-Hyderabad flights and BA the Kolkata-London flights....obviously it has something to do with passengers load factors....that too during recession times, no airline will dare to totally stop even minor profit making routes!!

The shutting down of CCU-LHR sector by BA was debated in this forum earlier. It was never due to shortage of pax. but shortage of first/business class pax.Also BA was not in a mood to compete with Emirates after double daily flight will be introduced. New Delhi being the capital and Mumbai the economic capital have every right to have world class airport. But that does not mean poor CCU will have cattle class airport for last fifty years. Last few decades of leftist politics and stupidity of bengalee gentlemen have dragged west Bengal down but still the state produce good number of immigrants for north America and Europe. However regarding labor traffic to middle east --- I don’t care!