New AI flights to US set to take off

Air India, which is completing 60 years of international operations in June, is set to unveil a ‘new face’ of the Maharaja.

Air India, which is completing 60 years of international operations in June, is set to unveil a ‘new face’ of the Maharaja. The process started with the inaugural Delhi-New York non-stop flight last week. With the India-US circuit becoming the biggest revenue earner for Air India, the Maharaja is now planning to fly from Bangalore to San Francisco, followed by touchdowns at Texas and Washington.

With revenue on the sector touching Rs 2,616 crore in 2005-6 and an expected revenue of Rs 3,300 crore in this financial year, AI is zooming in on the US like never before, shedding the ‘Gulf carrier’ tag for good, trying to find a place as a premium carrier with its new fleet and targeting the business traveller in a big way.

“The Indo-US sector is looking great and while the Delhi-New York non-stop flight—basically targeting business travellers—is turning out to be quite a draw, we are looking at a bigger pie. While we will launch another non-stop flight between Bangalore and San Fransisco—connecting the two silicon valleys—later this year, destinations like Houston are also likely to be added gradually,” Jitendra Bhargava, executive director (commercial), Air India told reporters in New York after the inaugural flight to the city was launched on February 8.

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AI already offers 12,536 seats per week at present on its 38 weekly flights to four destinations in USA—New York(6,293), Newark (2,394), Chicago (2,961) and Los Angeles (888).

“At present, a significant portion of the traffic between India and the US is met by European/Gulf carriers over the Atlantic and by South-East Asian airlines over the Pacific. This will change as AI and other Indian carriers increase capacity along the sector. AI, on its part, plans to remain the premium carrier deploying state-of-the art new aircraft with the best of in-flight entertainment and on board service,” added Bhargava. He said Air India was also in an expansion mode and would have a fleet of 25 by 2009, up from the existing 17. These will include leased aircraft as well as new ones.