GROWING EAST AND WEST

Air India Eyes Intercontinental Expansion

- BYRON BOHLMAN

AIR INDIA’S TRANSFORMATION UNDER TATA GROUP ownership continues at breakneck speed. In addition to new aircraft orders, training partnerships, new facilities, cabin refurbishments, and flight crew recruiting, the airline is expanding its intercontinental network, both eastward and westward.

To the east, three weekly Melbourne-Mumbai nonstops commenced last month, the first direct service to link the two cities in 23 years. Those flights complement Air India’s current daily Delhi-Sydney and Delhi-Melbourne nonstops for a total of 32 Australian market frequencies per week.

To the west, the carrier also hinted that it is setting its sights on new flights to the USA now that the first of 20 ultra-long-range Airbus A350 AWBs has joined the fleet. The A350-900’s 18,000 km (9,700 nm) range makes it a likely choice to fly new nonstops rumoured to be under consideration between Delhi and Dallas, Los Angeles, and Seattle.

WHAT’S BEHIND A PUSH TO THE WEST?

Air India started serving the USA nearly 64 years ago with a B707 that flew three weekly flights between Mumbai and New York JFK via London. It wasn’t until 1993 that the airline flew nonstop between JFK and Delhi when longer range B747-400s were added to the fleet. Those aircraft have since been retired and replaced with B777-200s and -300s which now link Indian cities with a handful of American markets