Bhutan Airways (Tashi Air) to begin daily Paro-Kolkata-Bangkok

by Vinay Bhaskara

According to the Airline Route blog, private Bhutanese carrier Bhutan Airways (also known as Tashi Air) is set to begin daily Paro-Kolkata-Bangkok flights from October 2013 with its new Airbus A320 aircraft. Proposed schedules are as follow:

B3700 PBH-CCU 1035 – 1110 CCU-BKK 1150 – 1550 320 Daily

B3701 BKK-CCU 0630 – 0730 CCU-PBH 0810 – 0945  320 Daily

Tashi Air has an existing fleet of one Pilatus PC-12 aircraft (seating 8 passengers), which it uses to serve domestic flights within Bhutan from Paro to Jakar and Trashigang. The airline was founded in 2011, and the purchase of its first Airbus A320 marks a major expansion for Bhutan’s second largest carrier. It will face major competition from the much larger national carrier Druk Air, who serve ten destinations on a fleet of four aircraft (three Airbus A319s and one ATR 42). Druk Air already serve six destinations in India including Kokata, and have nonstop flights between Paro and Bangkok.