Air India and Drukair start interline tickets between India and Bhutan

Air India and Drukair-Royal Bhutan Airlines have signed an interline deal that lets passengers book both carriers on one ticket, with bags tagged through to the final airport.

Air India announced the partnership on 26 August. The practical change is the itinerary. A traveller can now fly into Delhi, Guwahati or Kolkata on Air India and continue to Paro on Drukair without buying a second ticket or reclaiming luggage. From Paro, Drukair's domestic map adds Bumthang, Gelephu and Yonphula. In the other direction, Drukair passengers can connect over those three Indian cities onto Air India's domestic network, including Bengaluru, Mumbai and Kochi, and onto long-haul points such as London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt, New York JFK, Newark, San Francisco, Toronto Pearson, Vancouver, Melbourne, Sydney and Colombo.

What interline is, and what it is not

Interline is not a joint venture and not a codeshare in the full sense. Each airline still flies its own metal and keeps its own fare rules. The passenger gets a single ticket, coordinated connections and through-checked bags. Missed-connection protection is stronger than two separate tickets, though it is weaker than a true alliance codeshare with seat inventories opened to both sides.

Delhi remains the main hinge. Drukair's August 2026 schedule already shows a daily Paro-Delhi round trip, seven flights a week each way. Guwahati and Kolkata matter for the eastern gateways and for Bhutanese traffic that does not want to detour through the capital. Air India said the deal also fills a SAARC gap: with Drukair attached, the carrier can claim almost every country in the region on its own metal or a partner's.

Why Bhutan is a scarce slot

Paro is a visual-flight airport in a valley. Only a small group of airlines and pilots are cleared to use it. Capacity does not scale the way it does at Delhi or Bangkok. An interline deal does not add Paro slots. It fills the seats that already exist and makes the inland Bhutanese towns bookable from London or Bengaluru without a second website.

Tourism and official travel are the obvious demand. Business traffic into Gelephu, where Bhutan has been promoting a new economic zone, is the longer bet. Air India framed the tie-up as part of a tighter hold on its home region after years of building long-haul routes first.

What travellers should still check

Through-fares will appear only once both reservation systems finish mapping the connections. Until then, some itineraries will still price as two tickets. Visa rules for Bhutan have not changed. The deal does not waive the daily tariff or the permit process. It only removes a baggage-claim stop and a second PNR.

The test over the next winter season is simple. Do the Delhi-Paro connections hold when fog or crosswinds close the valley, and do the through-fares undercut the current habit of buying Air India and Drukair apart? If both answers are yes, the interline will show up in load factors before it shows up in a speech.