State-owned carrier, Air India, is restructuring its operations to Europe and the US by making Frankfurt its operational hub for its West-bound flights “as the London Heathrow is busy and not an easy airport to transit”, effective this summer schedule starting March 29.
To begin with, the airline will operate daily flights from Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore to Chicago via Delhi and Frankfurt. Eventually, the idea is launch direct flights from the three south destinations to Frankfurt and then to the US while skipping Mumbai and Delhi in due course, P Ashok Kumar, deputy general manager (commercial), Air India, told mediapersons here .
“We are expecting 200-odd passengers per flight on this route. Even if we can get about 150 passengers per flight, it will make it economically viable for us to start direct flights to Frankfurt, which may happen in a year from now,” he added.
