Tag Archives: Imphal

Air India Express expands flights from Guwahati, Agartala & Imphal

Air India Express has announced a major expansion of its flight operations from three key northeast cities-Guwahati, Imphal, and Agartala for its winter schedule. The initiative has been taken to boost connectivity across India and build its footprint in the region, as per the official statement.

The airline has increased the number of weekly flights from Guwahati to 106, in comparison to 63 flights announced last winter. This is a significant jump in terms of flight operations. It also offers direct connectivity flights for eight major destinations Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Imphal, Jaipur, and Agartala. The airline also provides one-stop connections to six international destinations and 18 domestic places. The goal of the airline is to make Guwahati a crucial travel hub in the northeast.

The airline has also expanded its weekly flights in Imphal to 34 for this season in contrast with just 14 flights during the last winter schedule. Agartala has been operating 21 weekly flights from 14 after it was added as a news station in September 2024. The city interlinks directly to Kolkata and Guwahati while offering one-stop connectivity to 11 more domestic destinations.

According to Ankur Garg, Chief Commercial Officer, Air India Express, the growth will boost the regional air network and will make Guwahati a major link between the Northeast and the rest of the country. Air India Express which has fully integrated under the Tata Group’s aviation business is all set to reconfigure its fleet to meet the demand of its long-term goals. By 2025, the airline’s goal is to transform it into an economy configuration and will remove all the business class seats. The decision has been taken to cater to budget-conscious travellers and utilize the efficiency of its narrow-body aircraft. To support the ever-growing demands, the airline has expanded its fleet to more than 90 aircraft and is well-equipped from India’s emerging cities.

 

Air India Express to start non-stop flights from Kolkata to Imphal & Kochi next month

Air India Express, a subsidiary of Air India, is all set to begin non-stop flights to Imphal and Kochi from Kolkata this April, an airline official said.

“The flights to Imphal will operate daily, while those to Kochi will fly six days a week,” he said.

The flight from Kolkata to Imphal will depart at 7 am and will reach in Manipur capital at 8.05 am. The return flight will depart at 8.35 am and arrive in Kolkata at 10.20 am, he said.

The Kolkata-Kochi flight will take off at 11.25am and reach the destination at 2.35pm, while the return flight will leave at 3.05pm and land here at 6.10pm.

The airline through route integration will be operating more flights on various domestic routes, sources said.

Meanwhile, the airline has recently announced introduction of four fare products – Xpress Lite (cabin baggage only fares), Xpress Value (15 kg check-in bag fares), Xpress Flex (unlimited changes with no change fees), and Xpress Biz (business class seating with complimentary Gourmair meals and priority services).

With the launch of this service, travellers now have the option to personalise their trip aligning with ‘Fly As You Are’ – “our promise to make travel more convenient for our guests”, the airline said.

The statement said its Xpress Biz fares are available on all the new Air India Express Boeing 737-8 aircraft, as a business class equivalent that disrupts the traditional Low Cost carrier (LCC) model with a hybrid offering.

Guests can enjoy increased baggage allowances of 25kg for domestic flights and 40kg for international flights when booking Xpress Biz fares.

Air India Express is already operating aircraft with ‘Biz’ seats across 70 routes in India, connecting metro cities with other key destinations. From Kolkata, the destinations are Ayodhya, Chennai, Jaipur, Guwahati and Imphal.

Air India Express, is a subsidiary of Air India and a part of the Tata group, operating over 360 daily flights, connecting 31 domestic and 14 international airports, with a fleet of 67 aircraft, comprising 39 Boeing 737s and 28 Airbus A320s. (Source: PTI)

 

Govt earmarks 25 AAI airports for leasing between 2022-2025

As per National Monetization Pipeline (NMP), 25 airports of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) have been earmarked for leasing over the years 2022 to 2025, said the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Monday.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation VK Singh, in reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, said AAI airports are leased out in the public interest for their better management utilising private sector efficiency and investment.

States and passengers are the ultimate beneficiaries of enhanced airport infrastructure and facilities created by a private partner, who operates, manages and develops the leased airport under Public Private Partnership (PPP), he said.

The Minister further said airports have emerged as a nucleus of economic activities and have a multiplier effect on the economy of the State. The revenue received by AAI from the leased airports is also utilized in the development of airport infrastructure across the country.

According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the airports namely Bhubaneshwar, Varanasi, Amritsar, Trichy, Indore, Raipur, Calicut, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Patna, Madurai, Surat, Ranchi, Jodhpur, Chennai, Vijayawada, Vadodara, Bhopal, Tirupati, Hubli, Imphal, Agartala, Udaipur, Dehradun and Rajahmundry have been earmarked for leasing over the years 2022 to 2025.

Further, AAI has leased out eight of its airports under PPP for operation, management and development on long-term lease basis.

The airports along with the concessionaires include Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai, Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport, Lucknow, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad, Mangaluru International Airport, Jaipur International Airport, Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram International Airport. (ANI)

flybig to connect Guwahati to Impahl via Tezu under UDAN from Sept 26

flybig is adding one more sector under the ambitious UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) scheme on September 26, 2022. Guwahati – Tezu – Imphal – Tezu – Guwahati flights will operate on all days, except Mondays. Imphal, the cultural capital of Manipur is now getting directly connected to Tezu and Guwahati. This will now benefit travelers with reduced travel hours and make air travel economical with fares starting from INR 799.

While announcing the new sector, Sanjay Mandavia, CMD, flybig, said, “We are supporting the vision of our Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji of giving a major economic boost to hinterland regions of the nation.” “In coming days we will connect Imphal to major cities in east and north east with direct connections. We are humbled to inform that we are continuing to keep our commitment of providing air connectivity in the Northeast region through Ude Desh ka aam Nagrik scheme,” he added.

Dibrugarh-Imphal flight becomes operational under UDAN

Dibrugarh in eastern Assam is now connected with Manipur capital Imphal with the commencement of a new flight. IndiGo flight 6E 7948 will connect Kolkata and Imphal with Dibrugarh, daily. It will take around 1 hour and 15 minutes to reach Imphal from Dibrugarh.

The domestic carrier started the flight on Monday under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), an official statement said.

Dibrugarh already has flights to Agartala (Tripura) and Dimapur (Nagaland), besides Guwahati. This is the third flight under the RCS to start its operations from Dibrugarh. The increase in the number of flights along with connections to various destinations is making Dibrugarh an aviation hub, said  R Awasthi, Airport Director.

At present, there are nine flights departing from Dibrugarh airport, which handles around 1,200 Passengers everyday, he said. (Source ET)