At least one airline has taken advantage of the government?s open sky policy. Thai Airways has added two more flights a week from Calcutta to Bangkok from November 1, making the service five days a week.

?Three flights were just not enough,? Krisnapong Srisinwarakool, general manager, Calcutta, Thai Airways, told Metro on Monday. ?They were all going full, so we decided to add two more. Our long-term goal is to make it a daily flight, because there are enough customers.?

With two more having been added from Mumbai, making it a daily flight, and one from Bangalore, the focus for Thai Airways in India is on expansion.

?The three flights from Calcutta were going mostly full, with a minimum of 90 per cent. So it was definitely not enough,? added S.C. Kapur, district sales manager, eastern India.

The traffic at the moment is from Bangkok to Calcutta, because ?they are all returning after the holidays?, according to Kapur. ?People traditionally prefer to spend Diwali and bhai dooj with the family.? But general manager Srisinwarakool is confident that sales are going to hit the roof by early next month.

Although a significant segment is the carrier passenger ? those who fly across with empty shopping bags and return with them brimming ? tourists on family vacations are a common sight.

?For the winter holidays, we expect all the flights from Calcutta to be full,? Srisinwarakool said. ?Lots of people travel to Thailand during that season.?

More plans are afoot to woo the Indian traveller to Thailand, with promotional packages on the cards.

?The Thai tourism board only has an office in Delhi. So, where Thai Airways has branches, we collaborate with them. At the moment, we are working together on a holiday package,? said Kapur.

While no date has been fixed yet, it will include travel, sightseeing and other services.

During the Travel Agents Association of India annual meet in Calcutta in September, civil aviation minister Praful Patel had expressed concern over the ?very few? international flights in and out of the city, promising priority to foreign airlines seeking permission to operate from here.