AI to begin direct flights to Washington next month

Next month, Air India will extend one of its two direct flights to New York from Delhi and Mumbai to Washington.

Said an airline spokesperson: “Many people want to fly Washington directly and a need has been felt. This will happen from October 25.”

The airline is also changing the timing of its last flight in the Delhi-Mumbai route on both sides from 8 pm to 9 pm. This is to attract more business travellers.

The government-owned airline, with losses of Rs 7,200 crore on its books,also has plans to bring passengers from Bangkok to Mumbai and then book them on west-bound flights. This scheme is being followed in the flights from Dhaka and has been a success, said the spokesperson.

The airline has a market share of 16.6 per cent in the domestic market and over 33 per cent of the international passengers from India.

Its effort to recover from a burden of heavy losses continues.A committee of Union government secretaries, chaired by the cabinet secretary, was formed to monitor AI’s revival plan on a monthly basis. The government has decided to provide equity of Rs 2,000 crore by this year end, but on the condition that the airline aggressively cuts cost.