American Airlines to begin non-stop flights to New Delhi

AVIATION SECTOR ON A ROLL

World's largest carrier American Airlines is set to start a non-stop flight between Chicago and New Delhi from November 15, making it the first non-stop flight from US to an Indian destination.

The new service will operate in alliance with Air Sahara, which will also double up as the US carrier's ticketing and service provider.

"Delhi is an important destination in our international network and this move underlines our commitment that, together with our global partners, we will provide customers with convenient travel to the world's principle business destinations," a company official said.

The carrier will operate the route with Boeing 777-200 aircraft in a three class configuration, with 16 seats in first class, 35 in business class and 185 seats in the main cabin.

This will be the longest in the carrier's international route, while the connectivity between the two cities will help passengers save time and money.

The service will help in reducing the time-taken to reach US destinations, as services to US are currently being operated with stopovers at Colombo, London, Dubai or Singapore.

The 7,484 mile-long Delhi-Chicago route will be operated in partnership with Air Sahara. However, the finer details of arrangement were not disclosed.

American Airlines also plans to offer special introductory fares to Delhi, which is slated to be lower by around 30 per cent than the existing fares on this route.

American Airlines will also provide connections to other cities in US through its own network or through that of its sister concern, American Eagle.

The company is also planning to introduce similar services between Atlanta, Dallas/Forth Worth and St Louis, and certain select cities on both east and west coasts of the country.