Air India Will Expand Airbus A319 Service Between Delhi & Phuket Next Month

Air India is doubling down on its flights from Delhi to Phuket after seeing strong demand for the service. The airline already operates a daily flight on the sector and will soon add six additional weekly flights as it looks to expand its presence in the Southeast Asia region.

More flights to Phuket

Air India has announced that it will start operating a second service between Delhi and Phuket in Thailand starting June 1. This service will be in addition to Air India’s daily flights already in operation between the two destinations.

The carrier has planned the second flight strategically, offering passengers a convenient late morning departure from Delhi and helping to link guests arriving from Europe with the popular beach destination. Air India first launched service to Phuket four times a week in December 2023. Just a month later, it turned this into a daily service and will now operate almost double daily flights between Delhi and Phuket.

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Flight schedule

Currently, Air India has a daily Delhi-Phuket flight that leaves at 02:05 early morning and arrives at 08:10 in Phuket. The return flight leaves Phuket at 09:15 and arrives in Delhi at 12:20. But from June 1, the carrier will have additional flights on all days of the week except Wednesday as per the following schedule:

Apart from Delhi-Phuket, Air India also deploys its aircraft on the Delhi-Bangkok and Mumbai-Bangkok sectors. With the additional flights to Phuket, the carrier will now operate 34 weekly flights to Thailand from both cities.

The India-Thailand sector is extremely busy, with multiple airlines competing for passengers. Vistara, Thai Airways, SpiceJet, IndiGo, and Thai AirAsia, among others, all fly between the two countries to cater to an ever-increasing demand.

Photo: kbp.spotter | Shutterstock

As far as Phuket is concerned, IndiGo currently has the maximum service from India, connecting Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru with daily flights. The carrier also has multiple flights to Bangkok from various Indian cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bhubaneshwar. In all, there are more than 2,300 return flights between India and Thailand in May alone, according to data by Cirium Aviation Analyst.

Other Air India news

Air India is looking to make further inroads not just in Southeast Asia but as far as Japan. The airline recently signed a codeshare agreement with All Nippon Airways to provide more travel opportunities for customers of both airlines.

Air India will add its ‘AI’ designator code on ANA’s flights between Tokyo Haneda and Delhi as well as Tokyo Narita and Mumbai, while All Nippon Airways will add its ‘NH’ designator code on Air India’s flights between Tokyo Narita and Delhi.

Photo: Sundry Photography | Shutterstock

Furthermore, according to a recent report by The Economic Times, Air India and Vistara are also trying to speed up their merger process. The initial estimate to finalize the deal was sometime next year, but people familiar with the matter say that the new management is keen to complete it as soon as possible, possibly by the end of this year.

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