American Airlines and Continental Airlines have flights between India and U.S. for since 2006. The airlines are working on service changes to attract customers. American Airlines and Continental Airlines are among the top 10 airlines globally, and their launch of non-stop flights between India and the US is paying dividends even before they have completed their first full year of operation.
Both airlines agree that the passengers have not dropped in off-peak seasons. However, they are not in a position where the airlines are making money. It is not normal that any airlines start making money during the first year of a new flight, as there is normally huge start-up costs involved in launching any new route. The airlines are normally not giving out any details on the financial condition of the route. Both airlines say that they have exceeded expectations in terms of quality of revenue and load factors. The airlines refused to speculate on the number of passengers they carried during the year.
American Airlines launched a daily non-stop service between Chicago and Delhi on November 16; Continental Airlines launched its daily non-stop service on November 2 last year. The airlines reported that over 1.5 million passengers had bookings on the US-India non-stop flights.
The biggest plus of these non-stop flights is the reduction in travel time between the US and India. The launch of the American Airline flight to Chicago from India saves between 1 hour 50 minutes and 2 hours 50 minutes, depending on which airline used when traveling to the US. Air India takes 17 hours and 45 minutes between India and Chicago while the same journey would take 18 hours 45 minutes on the German airline Lufthansa. American Airlines is only 15 hours and 45 minutes to Chicago from India.
Since the two airlines launched their non-stop flights with reasonable success, another American airline company has joined in with launching their own non-stop flight. Delta Airlines announced that from November 3 of 2007 it would start a daily non-stop flight service between Mumbai and New Your.
Air India is planning to get a brand new Boeing 777 next year to add to its fleet of airplanes. The addition of this new plane will be a great advantage for Air-India. Air-India plans to launch non-stop flights between India and several American cities.
The first year is going to be expensive with the extra expense of the new plane and start up costs so passengers will not be receiving any travel specials. Air India claims that they expect it will be at least two years before any specials become available passengers.
One other major problem for the Airlines and the American government is the threat of terrorist taking control of the planes or even worse planting bombs. The Indian government is working with the American government is trying to counter any such occurrences.
