Kolkata becomes Lufthansa's sixth destination in India

New Delhi, July 28 (UNI) Lufthansa will operate three non-stop flights a week between Kolkata and Frankfurt from December 1.

With the regional network being extended to include Kolkata, India will become the only country in Lufthansa's Asia Pacific network to be served through six gateways. This now gives passengers a maximum choice of 45 weekly flights between India and Germany.

Mr Werner Heesen, general manager for passenger sales in India and director for South Asia said: ''India is a strategic market for us and Lufthansa is proud to offer its passengers an enhanced network with the maximum number of direct flights to Europe.'' Kolkata is an important economic hub in northeastern India, housing several mining and steel industries. In the recent past, big players from the manufacturing, technology and services sectors have also been expanding their presence in Kolkata.

With 13 million inhabitants, Kolkata is India's second largest urban centre and a major tourist and culture hub.

''Kolkata will also serve as an important transit point for passengers who would be visiting neighbouring countries such as Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar,'' said Mr Heesen.

Lufthansa will operate the route to Kolkata with an Airbus A340-300 offering a total of 221 seats. There will be eight first class, 48 business class and 165 economy class seats on the flights.

At Frankfurt, departure and arrival times have been coordinated so as to give passengers arriving from India the best possible choice of connecting flights to European destinations and the United States.

The current schedule includes daily flights between Delhi-Frankfurt, Delhi-Munich, Mumbai-Frankfurt, Chennai-Frankfurt, Bangalore-Frankfurt and Hyderabad-Frankfurt.

Along with its new partner Swiss, an enhanced network of flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata will be offered to the three European hubs at Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich.

UNI SU CS HS1612