Emirates announces plan to add Kolkata route capacity

Emirates Airline has announced plans to add a 13th weekly flight to the Indian city of Kolkata as part of plans to upgrade the route.

Starting on March 29, the Dubai-based airline will add the EK572 flight on Wednesday between the West Bengal capital and its home hub, a statement said.

With this additional service, Emirates will operate 186 weekly flights across its network of 10 Indian destinations, the airline said.

Also on March 29, Emirates said it will start to operate a larger Boeing 777-200ER on the route as flight numbers EK570 and EK571 which will offer Emirates' First Class service.

The plane is an upgrade from the existing A330-200, with capacity for 274 passengers; 220 in Economy Class, 42 in Business Class and 12 First Class.

Emirates added in the statement that it will be the only airline operating a First Class cabin to the city. The new service and upgrade will represent a capacity increase of 250 seats in each direction per week.

Since launching flights to Kolkata in March 2006, Emirates has flown over 1.6 million people and 55,260 tonnes of cargo on the route.

Kolkata is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, located on the east bank of the Hooghly River. A bustling city with 4.5 million residents, Kolkata has long been known for its literary and artistic heritage.