Air India planning to start Los Angeles, Dallas and Seattle flights

Air India is planning to expand in the United States, with flights to Los Angeles, Dallas and Seattle planned.

Three new routes

About a week ago, Twitter user Aashish (@aashmvp) posted about Air India securing some slots for Dallas and Seattle at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. These schedule filings were not concrete enough to conclude something out of it.

What’s this ??

Am I breaking news or something??

I see LAX & DFW. @nikwireless @Vinamralongani @sjlazars @ArenaJet @LiveFromALounge @IshrionA @khabri_lal @OntheRoadAJ @KaptainPetrovs @manishasinghal @ari_maj @BLRAviation @shukla_tarun @TeamVTAviation @networkthoughts pic.twitter.com/Ht64ZjqfSk

— Aashish (@aashmvp) January 4, 2024

However, as shared by Twitter user @IshrionA, this seems to be getting closer to reality. The carrier has just updated its route map that shows three new destinations in the United States – Los Angeles, Dallas and Seattle. These all flights will be from Delhi. In addition to these destinations, Air India also plans to launch flights to:

• Zurich in Switzerland
• Rome in Italy
• Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia
• Jakarta in Indonesia

While the exact details remain to be seen like when the service will launch, what will be the frequency of the services and which aircraft will be deployed on these routes, the leaked schedule filings and the updated route map signals that the airline is indeed planning to launch flights to these destinations in the near future.

I personally think that Air India will use the Boeing B777s on these new routes, atleast in the near term until the A350s that are on order come in. The current B777 fleet of Air India consists of the legacy B777-300ERs (Extra Range) and B777-200LRs (Long Range), leased ex-Delta B777-200LRs, leased ex-Etihad B777-300ERs and leased ex-Singapore Airlines B777-300ERs.

Air India currently flies to Chicago, New York JFK, Newark, San Francisco and Washington in the United States. In Canada, the airline flies to Toronto and Vancouver.

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Exciting development!

Indian Airlines, which only includes Air India, have long lost most of the traffic between India and the U.S. to the Gulf carriers. Many in India have even tagged Emirates as the “unofficial flag carrier of India”.

Now that Air India is again in growth mode under the Tata Group, it seems that it is finally starting to change, meaning that Indian Airlines will finally be able to capitalise on the high demand that India-U.S. market has.

Air India has a major competitive advantage on flights to the United States so it’s not surprising to see it expanding in the U.S. Air India uses Russian airspace when flying between India and U.S., something which U.S. carriers can’t. In addition to saving a significant amount of time, there are some routes that U.S. airlines can’t serve due to limited operating range of existing aircraft.

Air India may be targeting at the Origin&Destination (O&D) traffic in these three new U.S. markets. United has a significant presence in Los Angeles so there may some chance of onward connectivity there, should Air India consider that.

Air India planning to add new U.S. destinations is exciting and hopefully, it comes to fruition.

Featured image by Airliners.net/Aleksa Vladisavljevic

What do you think of Air India’s plans? Do you think that it will start flights to these destinations? Let me know in the comments section below.

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