The city of Kolkata will now be directly connected to Bangkok, the capital of Thailand via afternoon flights. This service is being offered by Thai Smiles, a regional airline of Thailand and a wholly owned subsidiary of Thai Airways which began operations in 2012. The service is scheduled to begin from March 31 and flights would take off from Kolkata at 4:30 pm and reach Bangkok at 9 pm local time. Thai Smiles will operate these direct flights from Kolkata to Bangkok five days a week. Airbus A320 will be used for these flights which will have 12 premium economy and 150 economy class seats.

Kris Theerarak, General Manager, Thai Airways, Calcutta, said,

We got market feedback regarding the timing. There are already five or six departures from Calcutta to Bangkok at night. The new timings will be convenient for those who don’t want to travel at night. Also, the 9 pm arrival in Bangkok will be convenient for those who want to take connecting flights to China, Japan, and Australia.

Most of the other airlines operate night flights to Bangkok, like the Thai Airways whose flight leaves Kolkata at 2 am in the morning and reaches Bangkok at 5.50am local time.

Anil Punjabi, Chairman of East Travel Agents Federation of India said,

Thailand is a leisure destination and most people travel with families. Many are reluctant to travel at night.