After a week exploring the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, it was time to head south, towards India, where I spent additional few days in Kolkata, before I finally accepted the hospitality of Air India and Lufthansa on my way home. This trip report will try to give you some impressions from the return leg of my Asian trip.

The land of the thunder dragon (Druk Yul) has long been on my list of countries I wanted to visit. Its profound Buddhist culture, magnificent forts (dzongs) and dramatic mountain landscapes, offer a cocktail of experiences that other countries can not. This unique country does not focus on Gross National Product, it is Gross National Happiness that counts. They also limit the number of tourists by imposing hefty sustainability fee of US$100 per day, and you also need a Bhutanese guide to visit their main sights. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my days spent in Bhutan and will for sure come again in the future to exlplore remoter parts of the kingdom.

My departure flight to Kolkata was operated by the national airline of Bhutan, Drukair. There is also a private Bhutan Airlines and these are the only two airlines operating to and from Bhutan (beside Paro there are also three other domestic airports).

There are no foreign carriers that fly into Paro - one of the main reasons is the extremely challenging approach due to the mountainous surrounding terrain and only a tiny number of highly trained pilots are certified to land there. This also means no instrument landing system is available and operating hours of the airport are during daytime only, and clear visibility is required. Taken into account all these facts, it is not a surprise that flights to Paro are not cheap.

Drukair flies to multiple destinations in India (Delhi, Bodh Gaya, Bagdogra, Guwahati, Kolkata) and selected regional airports like Kathmandu, Dhaka and even Bangkok, Singapore and Dubai. According to Drukair's website, their fleet consist of one A320neo, three A319s, one ATR42-600 and three Airbus H130 helicopters. Filights between Kolkata and Paro tend to be among the cheapest flights they offer, yet I still had to pay US$397 for a return Kolkata-Paro-Kolkata ticket. But this is only a part of the trip cost as Kolkata is unfortunately (or fortunately) not located around the corner from where I live.

I initially bought a return Qatar Airways ticket from Zagreb to Kolkata via Doha (€730) but the situation in the Middle East forced me to find alternative flights. On March 20, I therefore cancelled Qatar Airways flights (at that time they were still shown as confirmed, but full refund was offered in case you would have decided to cancel the flight - I must say that I got the refund in just few days after the cancellation) and looked for alternative flights. I ended up paying €1027 for the following combination of Star Alliance flights: Swiss (A220 operated by Air Baltic) from Ljubljana to Zurich, Swiss (A333) from Zurich to Delhi and finally Air India (A320; they even ugraded me into business class for this leg at the gate) from Delhi to Kolkata. The return flights were operated by Air India (A320; no business class for me this time) from Kolkata to Delhi, Air India again (B77W) from Delhi to Frankfurt and finally, Lufthansa (A320) from Frankfurt to Ljubljana.

I had to wake up early on May 2, 2026, before 4 AM, as my KB210 flight from Paro to Kolkata was scheduled to depart at 6:00. I was staying less than a ten-minute drive from the airport. After saying goodbye to my Bhutanese friends, I headed to the check-in area inside the departure hall. Paro Airport has two separate buildings, one dedicated to arrivals and the other serving departing flights.

It was still dark outside when I entered the terminal, which is constructed in a traditional Bhutanese style. There were very few people at the check-in counters at that early hour, so I was airside in no time. Some coffee and souvenir shops were already open, allowing me to make a few last-minute purchases of souvenirs and books before taking a seat.

Paro Airport (PBH) is small, with just a couple of boarding gates. The Airbus A319, registered A5-RGG, was towed closer to the gate, and boarding began at approximately 5:45. There are no jet bridges at Paro, so passengers simply walked the short distance to the aircraft and boarded through both the front and rear doors. I had checked in online in advance to secure a window seat, 18A, in the rear cabin. The flight was almost completely full, and the cabin crew offered a warm welcome.

Following a 2022 refurbishment, Drukair’s A319 aircraft typically feature a two-class configuration with 16 business class seats and 102 economy seats, with roughly 31 to 32 inches of pitch in economy. There was also a printed in-flight magazine, Tashi Delek, available in every seat pocket.

Aside from the spectacular views as the aircraft manoeuvred between the surrounding hills of the Paro Valley, the roughly one-hour flight was also a little turbulent. A modest breakfast was served in a pre-packed paper box, consisting of a sandwich, mango juice, two cookies and some roasted peanuts, all of which were enjoyable enough. We soon began our descent into Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Airport, landing at around 7:00 local time, half an hour behind Bhutan time.

I had three more days to spend in Kolkata before I headed back to the airport for my evening flight to Delhi on Monday evening. After sweating and exploring Kolkata sights, I called Uber on May 4, at around half past six in the evening. Scheduled departure time for this domestic flight to Delhi was 22:00. Using Uber is so convenient and cheap in India. I paid only €6 for a 30-minute ride between The Lalit Great Eastern hotel (which I can highly recommend) and the airport.

Upon arrival to the check-in counter, a friendly agent informed me that my flight was going to be delayed for more than an hour and offered me to re-book me on an earlier flight departing at 21:00. I agreed, of course, since I still had to do immigration and security check at Delhi airport before flying out to Europe, and some extra time is always welcome.

My Kolkata – Delhi (CCU-DEL) flight was now AI2708 operated by Air India using A320neo aircraft (registered VT-TQA). I was given an 8A seat. Boarding was done through the gate 19 via jetbridge. The aircraft was modern, clean, it also had a printed in-flight Namaste magazine. It comprised business class, premium economy and economy class cabins.

Flight was rather full, with a 20-minute delay, we were pushed back and took off at half past nine. We were served a hot meal during this two-hour flight. Vegetarian and non-vegetarian options were available for dinner. I asked for a vegetarian (veg) meal and some coffee. The food was good.

During the flight you can also connect your smartphone to their network and enjoy their entertainment contents, or simply check the airplane's location live on their flight map. This perk is complimentary.

We landed few minutes after midnight at Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport. My luggage had been through-checked, so I just had to follow orange ''International transfer'' signs, first towards immigration, where I got a red exit stamp, and then to security check before I was airside waiting for the 2:50 AM departure of Air India AI2025 flight to Frankfurt.

It was middle of the night so I did not have any special wishes to walk around the airport, therefore I headed directly to the gate 9 where Air India B777-300ER was already parked. The 18-year old aircraft (reg. VT-AAL) returned the previous day from Toronto, and was now ready to welcome new passengers flying to Frankfurt. It is an old airplane, with old livery, old cabin interior - it shows its age. The backbone of Air India long-haul fleet are much younger B787 Dreamliners, they have over 30 aircraft of this type in their fleet.

Boarding started at 2:20 and at around 3:30 we took off. I pre-booked an aisle seat (€17), therefore seat 28H was my home for over ten hours till touch down at Frankfurt airport. Although the seat was old (or because of it), it was really comfortable, with good legroom, and I managed to sleep most of the time. Economy class seat layout was 3-3-3 instead of more common 3-4-3 for B777.

Approximately one hour into the flight, a light meal was served and soon after that the majority of the cabin went into ''hibernation''. Since Pakistan bans Indian carriers using Pakistan's airspace, our flight lasted much longer as we had to fly southward to bypass Pakistan, then head towards Oman, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and up north to Frankfurt. For example, Lufthansa flight from New Delhi to Frankfurt lasts approximately two hours less as they can overfly Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan etc. As said, the seat was very comfortable but the in-flight entertainment was old and unresponsive, with very limited content.

Three and a half hours before arrival we were served snacks, our hostess Sweety served me a small bag of Crunchy Corn and a glass of orange juice. After an hour, we were served the main hot meal. Again, both veg and non-veg (chicken) options were available with drinks of your choice. The meal was tasty. 

We touched down few minutes before 10:30 AM local time. I followed transfer signs, cleared immigration using eGates, then proceeded to security check before I was in the Schengen zone of the airport. It only took me a few minutes. I still had some time to have a salad, apple juice and a coffee in the nearby lounge, before I proceeded to gate A24 for the final leg of my trip, a Lufthansa flight to Ljubljana.

The aircraft assigned for LH1460 12:00 flight to Ljubljana was A320neo (D-AINZ), much appreciated upgrade compared to previous CRJ900s that operated between Frankfurt and Ljubljana. Boarding started at around 11:40, we were pushed back on time, at 12:04, and finally took off at 12:28. An hour later, at 13:23 we touched down. The flight was uneventful with standard Lufthansa ultra-diet meal consisting of a small bottle of water and a mini chocolate bar.

The sky was grey when I walked to my car parked at P3 airport car park (€58 for 13 days) contemplating my Himalayan adventures in Bhutan and hectic, noisy days of Kolkata.

Some pictures from Bhutan as Bonus