IndiGo to start Kolkata-Ho Chi Minh City direct flights from 18 October

Low-cost airline IndiGo on Thursday said that it will start operating non-stop flights on the Kolkata-Ho Chi Minh City route from 18 October this year.

Ho Chi Minh City will be IndiGo’s second destination in Vietnam.

“Effective October 18, 2019, IndiGo will operate non-stop flights between Kolkata and Ho Chi Minh City. With the launch of these flights, Ho Chi Minh City will become the 7th southeast Asian region in IndiGo's network,” the budget carrier said in a statement.

The InterGlobe Aviation Ltd-run airline last month had announced the start of Kolkata-Hanoi flights from 3 October.

"We have received a very encouraging response on the Kolkata-Hanoi route and we are confident of a good traction on this new connection between Ho Chi Minh City and Kolkata,” William Boulter, chief commercial officer at IndiGo, said in a statement.

Boulter also said that Ho Chi Minh City hosts a large Buddhist community that will be seamlessly connected to the Buddhist circuit in India through Kolkata.

The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) in its report released on 31 August said that IndiGo “now has the largest share of international seats to/from India”.

The CAPA report had stated that in the week commencing from 26 August, IndiGo had 11.8% share of total international seat capacity to or from India.

IndiGo claims to have garnered a market share of 48.1% in India as on June 2019.

After the suspension of Jet Airways operations, IndiGo has aggressively expanded its capacity on both domestic and foreign routes.

Shares of IndiGo on Thursday fell 0.53% to close at ₹1,633 on the BSE.