The Hindu Business Line : AI’s New York-bound flight to terminate in London

New Delhi, Sept. 4 In an effort to improve passenger loads on the recently launched non-stop services to New York, Air India will terminate the currently operated Delhi-London-New York daily flight at London Heathrow from September 10.

The move will also release crew for the airline to operate the daily flight on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Paris-Newark route. Besides, from September 13, the airline will also stop operating the three-times-a-week flight to Los Angeles which goes through Frankfurt.

The airline Web site gives the passenger the choice of flying to Los Angeles through Singapore or to New York on the non-stop flight before connecting on to an American Airlines flight to the final destination. Similarly, from October 1, the Mumbai-Delhi-Hong Kong flight will terminate there and not carry on to Seoul, which it does at present.

Route rationalisation

The rationalisation of routes will also see the airline start a daily flight being introduced between Kozhikode and Riyadh and Kochi and Damman.

Both the flights will be operated from September 7 with a 145-seater Airbus A-320 aircraft.

These are among the changes being introduced to rationalise its global operations and return the airline to profitability. The airline, like several around the globe, has been badly affected by increase in fuel prices and expects to post a loss of around Rs 2,000 crore.

The decision to terminate the New York-bound flight in London will bring to an end a close to five decade partnership which saw Air India use London as a point to operate flight to New York.

It was on May 14, 1960, that the airline’s once-a-week inaugural flight to New York via London took to the skies, making it the first Asian airline to cross the Atlantic.

The airline will offer flights from several cities within the country to London, including a daily flight from Delhi and Mumbai.

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