Kolkata: IndiGo Airlines will cancel flights from Kolkata to Singapore, Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh City and Siam Reap from July 1 and reduce frequency to Phuket, majorly impacting the city’s international flight connectivity.IndiGo is also slashing domestic flights, cutting back on sectors with multiple frequencies and those with low yields or profitability and relatively low loads.Malaysia Airlines that operates five flights-a-week between Kolkata and Kuala Lumpur has also hinted that it wants to reduce frequency to three flights-a-week from July 1.The planned flight cuts are part of the airline’s attempts to rationalise its operations and reduce expenses after the airline reported a net loss of Rs 2,536 crore for the quarter ending March 31, 2026, a significant drop from Rs 3,068 crore profit recorded in the same period last year.Sources said international flights were being suspended to curb losses. The sharp rise in aviation turbine fuel prices due to the Iran war, the slide in travel sentiment, the onset of the monsoon when leisure travel reduces have together forced the difficult situation, a source said.Airspace closures also hit the airline. The Iran conflict disrupted air travel through airspace closures in West Asia, leading to longer flight reroutings and a sharp rise in jet fuel prices, increasing cost pressures on airlines globally. Pakistan’s airspace ban on Indian carriers, imposed amid military tensions last year, also increased flight times and operating costs.While the airline will suspend all flights from Kolkata to Singapore, Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh City and Siam Reap (the temple town in Cambodia where Angkor Wat is situated) from July 1 to Oct 1, it will reduce frequency to Phuket in Thailand to three times a week, operating on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.Travel agents said the rise in fares had triggered a slump in demand. “While tickets that used to cost Rs 5,000-8,000 now cost Rs 10,000-12,000, passenger load in some flights has reduced from more than 90% to 82%,” a travel agent said.While IndiGo, India’s largest airline, operated 2,200 daily flights earlier, it reduced the flight count to around 1,800 a day. In Kolkata, the airline’s flight count that is around 112-122 a day could go below 100 by the end of the month.IndiGo Airlines has also decided to suspend flights from India to Langkawi (Malaysia), Krabi (Thailand) and Hong from July 1.
