Ayodhya Network Change: Air India Express Replacing Kolkata Network With Jaipur

In mid-July, Air India Express will implement a change in its network from Ayodhya Airport. The airline will convert the current Ayodhya-Kolkata-Ayodhya route to Ayodhya-Jaipur-Ayodhya. Ayodhya to Jaipur is one of the many routes, which were abandoned by SpiceJet in the recent past.

Air India Express: Connecting Jaipur to Ayodhya

From 15 July, Air India Express will start flights connecting Jaipur International Airport (JAI) to Ayodhya Maharishi Valmiki International Airport (AYJ). The airline will operate four times a week on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with its Boeing 737 MAX fleet.

Here is a quick look at the timings of Air India Express flights between Jaipur and Ayodhya.

The airline has 23 Boeing 737 MAX in its fleet, with the latest aircraft VT-BWB on its way to India for delivery. The majority of them are equipped with 8 Business and 168 Economy Class seats. Other configurations include 4 Biz + 174 Eco (2 B737s) and 8 Biz +154 Eco (3 B737s). Air India Express sells the Premium cabin as Vista Plus.

Air India Express is reviving the connection between Ayodhya and Jaipur. Earlier, SpiceJet operated on this route with its Q400 fleet. The service which started on February 1 was stopped within 60 days. SpiceJet canceled this service when it transitioned to the Summer Schedule.

Shutdown of Kolkata to Ayodhya Service

Air India Express started flights connecting Kolkata Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport (CCU) to Ayodhya Airport (AYJ) on January 17. It is currently operating four times a week on this route with the Boeing 737 MAX.

The upcoming Jaipur- Ayodhya connection will replace this Kolkata service. The final flight between Kolkata and Ayodhya is set to operate on July 14, one day before the launch of the Jaipur service.

AI Express is the only airline operating flights between Kolkata and Ayodhya. With this route closure, Ayodhya will lose air connectivity to Kolkata.

A SpiceJet senior official from Ayodhya Airport stated in the media report that when the airport started operations, a lot of people were enthusiastic about traveling to Ayodhya. But over time, the level of this enthusiasm has gone down.

As a result of this, the ticket sales continued to decrease and reached a point, where the route became unviable for the airline. SpiceJet had to cancel the Chennai to Ayodhya service within 60 days of start.

With this change, Ayodhya Airport will be connected to seven Indian cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Dehradun, Ahmedabad, and Jaipur.

Conclusion

Air India Express is all set to start flights connecting Jaipur to Ayodhya. The airline is stopping its Kolkata to Ayodhya service to accommodate this route. With this, direct connectivity between Kolkata and Ayodhya will be lost. The final flight between both cities is on July 14.

What do you think about this network change from Air India Express? Discuss in the comment section.