DELHI/AGARTALA, Dec 17 (TIWN): Air India to introduce more flights from Christmas to improve regional connectivity. Air India will give regional connectivity; a big push from next week by introducing a number of flights on small planes between metros and tier II and III cities.

"We will work for regional connectivity under our newly launched 'connect India' program," AI chairman Ashwani Lohani said.

"From January 15, we will connect Delhi and Gorakhpur by having a flight six times a week. After that we will link Kolkata to Agartala and Bengaluru to Vijaywada. All these flights will be on AA ATRs," a senior AI official said. After the addition of the three new flights from Mumbai and Delhi, AA will have 31 cities on its network and fly 1,400 passengers daily.

AA currently has a fleet of 11 turboprops. By the end of the fiscal 2016-17, it will have 21 ATRs in its fleet. With this fleet expansion on the cards, it is in talks with several state governments to launch regional flights. The states are going to tell AA what fare to charge, to ensure affordable rates, and will bridge the airline's gap in cost and revenue through viability gap funding (VGF).

The fares are fixed by the state governments and they give us the gap between cost and revenue earned," said an official