KLM hopes India will allow it to increase flights to meet rising demand

New Delhi: Air France-KLM’s current Indian services are limited under the air bubble restrictions but the airline is hopeful that the Indian government will allow it to increase its flights to meet the rising demand, a senior executive of the carrier said.

Since July 2020, India has allowed limited special international flights with passenger restrictions under air bubbles formed with approximately 28 countries, including France and The Netherlands.

Scheduled international flights continue to remain suspended in India since March 23 last year.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline operated 38 weekly flights from three Indian cities — Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai — to Paris and Amsterdam, Jean-Noel Rault, General Manager (Indian Sub-continent), Air France-KLM, told PTI in an interview.

Currently, Air France-KLM is operating 17 weekly flights from four Indian cities — Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai — to Paris and Amsterdam as per the air bubbles formed between India and France in July 2020 and India and The Netherlands in November 2020.

When asked if he sees the demand rising on India flights, Rault stated, “India has a very strong VFR (visiting friends and relatives) market. This in my opinion is one of the key factors to drive demand.”