The new flight has been introduced in view of demand from local Indian community in London, Jitendra Bhargava, Air India public relations director said.

"We have succeeded in negotiating and getting more slots with the UK authorities at the Heathrow International Airport, which has paved the way for launching this new flight," said Capt Ashwin Sharna, regional director for Air India in UK and Europe.

More Indian cities like Cohin may be connected with London later on depending on the availability of aircraft, Bhargava said.

The Kolkata-London flight, launched two days ago, is not only convenient for passengers from North-East Indian states but also travellers from Bangladesh, he said, although there is no change in fare for Dhaka-London sector which is on par with Kolkata-London, he said.

The Kolkata-London flight is part of Air India's broad policy decision to operate international flights from various cities in the country instead of only Delhi and Mumbai, the traditional gateways for London flights.

This will help make travel more comfortable, hassle-free and reduce elapsed travel time, Bhargava said adding long-hauled aircraft have been pressed into serivice in this sector.

With the introduction of these flights, Air India has a total of 24 flights per week to the UK, 21 to London and three to Birminghan, thus doubling the capacity offered by the airliner on the India-UK route in past seven months.

All these flights are being operated with wide-bodied aircraft Boeing-747-400s and Boeings 777-200s, Bhargava said. All aircraft have flat bed seats in first class and slumberettes in executive class thus proving high degree of comfort, he added.

Capt Sharma said Air India's business has jumped to Rs 370 crore (Rs 3.7 billion) last year from Rs 190 crore (Rs 1.9 billion) three years ago.

Bhargava also informed that the airline will introduce a direct flight to South Korea on July 7.