Direct flights to start biweekly between Kolkata and London on Mamata’s request: Trinamool

Trinamool Congress announces British Airways to start biweekly direct flights between Kolkata and UK, following CM's request.

The Trinamool Congress on Thursday (March 27, 2025) claimed that British Airways will start direct biweekly flights between Kolkata and the United Kingdom after a request for a direct route by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her ongoing trip to London.

“British Airways is acting on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s suggestion, with plans for biweekly direct flights already in motion,” the Trinamool Congress posted on its social media accounts on Thursday (March 27, 2025).

However, British Airways has so far not given an official statement on the same. 

A few days prior, the Chief Minister, during her visit to the High Commission of India in London, had appealed to the Indian Ambassador to pursue the prospect of a direct flight between Kolkata and London, adding that the recent fire and power outage at London’s Heathrow Airport had lengthened her eight-hour-long journey to an 18-hour-long journey.

“Bengal is not too far from here, but we want direct flights. My request to the Ambassador of India to the U.K. would be to pursue it. Earlier, there was British Airways, but before we came to power, (the London-Kolkata route) was withdrawn,” the Chief Minister had said earlier this week.

Later, during an interactive session with investors in London, she reiterated her appeal and announced that her government would give fuel concessions for direct flight connections.

The Chief Minister had touched upon the issue at the Bengal Global Business Summit earlier this year. “I spoke to (the Chairperson of Tata Sons) on the phone... I requested him to start direct flights between West Bengal and Europe since they have taken over the operations of Air India. He responded positively,” she had said in February this year.