State-run international carrier Air-India will launch a new thrice-weekly direct flight from Kolkata to London with effect from Saturday.

The flight, to be operated on the Delhi-Dhaka-Kolkata-London route on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, will also provide connectivity between Delhi-Dhaka, Dhaka-Kolkata and Dhaka-London, said an Air-India statement issued here.

Air-India will operate flights from Dhaka after a gap of nearly 30 years.

The new flight, part of Air-India's sustained drive to expand its worldwide route network, is the third long-haul flight to be introduced by the airline in the past three months.

Air-India had introduced a Delhi-Frankfurt-Los Angeles flight on March 28 and a new flight on the Delhi-Amritsar-Birmingham-Toronto sector on May 15.

The Kolkata-London flight will be operated with the state-of-the-art Boeing 777-200 aircraft, which has 272 seats in a three-class configuration, said the airline.

The introductory round-trip economy class fare for the Kolkata-London trip will be Rs.25,810. The special price will remain valid till July 31.

With the introduction of flights from Kolkata, Air-India will now have flights from Mumbai and 13 other Indian cities to various destinations in the world.