The Hindu Business Line : Airlines cash in on soaring demand in India-US sector

The growing demand for airline seats between major cities in India and the US is a win-win situation for both airlines and passengers, the latter being wooed by in-flight facilities as well as the assurance of onward connectivity.

Ashwini Phadnis

The airspace between India and the United States is set to get more crowded in the coming months, providing travellers with greater choice, shorter travel time to their destinations and, hopefully, lower fares.

In less than two months US airline Continental will expand its services to India by starting a four-times-a-week non-stop flight from Newark to Mumbai. “From October 2 the flight will be four times a week but will become a daily flight from October 28,” the airline’s Senior Country Director, Mr Laurent Recoura, said. At present, Continental, the first airline from either side to launch a non-stop flight between America and India, operates a daily New York-Delhi flight.

Similarly, Air India, the only Indian airline to offer a daily non-stop Mumbai-New York flight, is to start another daily flight between Delhi and New York from January 7 next year.

More one-stop flights

On the cards are plans for flights from Delhi to Frankfurt and onwards to San Francisco and from Mumbai to Frankfurt and onwards to Los Angeles. For passengers from Delhi wanting to travel to Los Angeles, Air India will fly them from Delhi to Frankfurt and then transfer them on to the Mumbai-Los Angeles flight, which will be operated through the German city.

Jet Airways, which launched its Mumbai-Brussels-New York service this month, is also looking at introducing more one-stop flights between India and the US. The airline has announced the start of a flight on the Delhi-Brussels-Toronto sector from September 5.

As the airline takes delivery of more wide-bodied aircraft till next October, it plans to connect to more cities in the US, including San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles, through its hub in Brussels. The airline also plans to start flights from Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Hyderabad to Brussels and onwards to destinations in the US.

But is there room for all these new services? While a little cagey about giving out numbers, senior executives of all the airlines feel that the market is huge, so obviously there is scope for more flights. “The growth in the market is 8-10 per cent year on year,” said Ms Nisha Maharaj, Regional Manager, Indian Subcontinent, American Airlines, that operates a daily non-stop service between Delhi and Chicago.

Non-stop services

“We feel that the non-stop service has been very well received. It is popular not only with families and elderly people but also with business people. In fact, the new Mumbai flight will open up a host of new travel options for Indian travellers,” said Mr Recoura.

Echoing similar sentiments, the Chairman and Managing Director, Air India, Mr V. Thulasidas pointed out that the launch of the non-stop service allows a person to reach New York early in the morning, conduct business throughout the day at the airport and surrounding areas before catching the return flight the same evening.

But despite these advantages there was some initial reluctance among travel agents in selling the Air India non-stop service. “The India-US market is a Visiting Friends and Relatives market, which is very price-sensitive.

With a price difference of $100 per ticket between the one-stop and non-stop flight to the US, the non-stop flight would be a non-starter. Besides, the airline is also offering vouchers for First and Business Class passengers as an incentive that could become an instrument for secondary trading,” a US-based travel agent said.

Travel agents in India, however, feel that this kind of reasoning was not new. “Even when Jet Airways started its non-stop flight to the UK, there were many sceptics. But now the flight is doing very well, proving everyone wrong,” said a Mumbai-based travel agent.

Huge demand

This may just be true. As now both the Jet’s one-stop flight to New York and Air India’s non-stop flight to New York have been reporting huge demand in traffic.

“Initially the response to the non-stop flight was tepid. But the airline expects to see a surge in demand after August 21, when the travel season to the United States picks up with colleges opening and the festive season,” said an Air India official. The airline started operating a daily non-stop service between Mumbai and New York from August 1.

The airline is also reporting strong demand in the first-class and business-class seats on the non-stop flight. “There have been days when the airline has been able to sell all but one or two seats in both business and first class,” an official said. Given this scenario, both Indian and American airlines are trying to woo fliers by emphasising on strong onward connectivity when the passenger reaches India or the US.

“Passengers arriving in New York and connecting onwards on another Continental flight do not even have to change terminals. This is a huge benefit and opens up the opportunity to fly not only to New York but several other cities in America and surrounding areas. It also helps ensure that pricing to the final destination is very competitive,” said Mr Laurent.

Next in line are in-flight services to make the over 15-hour journey more comfortable. Indian meals, a host of entertainment options and lie-flat beds are becoming common for airlines from both sides.

On the Indian side, both Jet and Air India offer over 200 hours of Hollywood and Bollywood movies, regional films and a range of music options from western classical to ghazals.

Jet Airways has also introduced a new product on the Boeing 777-300 Extended Range aircraft that is being deployed on the India-US route.

In first class, the airline is providing a suite that has a sliding door and Air India has appointed a manager for each aircraft that is to fly between India and the US whose sole responsibility will be to ensure that everything functions smoothly on the new Boeing 777-200 Long Range aircraft being deployed on the route.

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