21 July,2016 07:48 PM IST | | PTI
Air India will launch its services between Ahmedabad and Newark in New York from the Independence Day
Air India will launch its services between Ahmedabad and Newark in New York from the Independence Day.
The airline will deploy its warhorse 787 Dreamliner (AI 171) on the route, which will have one stop-ver at the London airport.
"The introduction of this flight will bridge the demand of 6 lakh Indians in Ahmedabad, who have been looking for seamless connections to Newark and London for a over a decade," AI's western region director Mukesh Bhatia said.
The tri-weekly flight will leave the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel international airport at 0530 hrs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and arrive in London at 1015 hrs and leave for NYC at 1230 hrs and land in Newark at 1500 hrs.
Bhatia said if there is enough demand, Air India could increase the frequency to five days a week. On the return leg, the flight AI-172 will depart from Newark at 2230 hrs, arrive at London at 1015 hrs and leave at 1230 hrs to land at Ahmedabad at 0200 hrs.
Bhatia said the airline could sell over 75 per cent of the seats for the inaugural flight and the flight is booked over 70 per cent for the first 45 days, which he said is not a bad load factor. The airline will be offering 248 Economy seats and 18 Business seats.
Bhatia said the airline has made special provisions for the Newark passengers to reach almost a dozen British cities through the code share with British Airways and also through similar arrangements with United Airlines and Delt for the US cities and also Air Canada.
With this, Air India now connects 34 international destinations across the US, Europe, Australia, the Far-East and Southeast Asia and the Gulf, while its domestic network covers 52 destinations, including the Northeast, Ladakh, the Andamans.
