Hindon Airport, the second airport in the National Capital Region (NCR), is set to expand its services with daily flights to and from Kolkata. Currently, only small airlines operate short routes from Hindon. However, Air India Express, a subsidiary of Air India and part of the Tata Group, will be the first airline to use a jet engine airliner at the airport, according to a company spokesperson.

The Kolkata-Hindon flights will begin operations on March 1. The flight will run daily from Kolkata to Hindon, while the return flight will operate six days a week, with no service on Saturdays. The flights will depart from Kolkata at 7:10 am and arrive at Hindon by 9:30 am. The return flight from Hindon will take off at 5:20 pm and land in Kolkata at 7:40 pm.

Hindon airport to offer more travel options

With this new service, Air India Express will now fly from both Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi and Hindon Airport in Ghaziabad, giving passengers in the NCR region more travel options.

Hindon’s civil terminal was first opened as part of a government plan to improve air travel to smaller cities. However, due to low demand, it had to close for eight months. Currently, the Indian Air Force controls the air traffic at Hindon, while the Airports Authority of India (AAI) manages the terminal, which is also used for VIP and special flights.

The new flights are expected to benefit travellers from east and central Delhi, Noida, and Ghaziabad, providing a convenient alternative to the busy Indira Gandhi International Airport.

More cities are to be connected soon

Apart from Kolkata, Air India Express is also planning to start flights from Hindon to Goa and Bengaluru. There will be six flights every day to each of these cities.

The Kolkata-Hindon flights were supposed to start in August last year, but they were delayed.

A spokesperson from the airline said, "We fly to 14 direct destinations from Kolkata, including Hindon. Some important destinations we connect to are Bagdogra, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Guwahati, and Hyderabad."

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