Delta Air Lines to start Chennai-NY direct service from May 2005

Delta Air Lines Inc(Delta) the US-based air carrier, is introducing a daily non-stop service between Chennai and Paris' Charles de Gaulle International Airport, onward to New York's John F Kennedy Airport, beginning May 11, 2005.

This makes Delta the only US carrier to offer direct service to Chennai and also the first SkyTeam member airline to offer daily online service from Chennai.

"We wanted to come a year back , but there were financial constraints. Our decision is based on a market study which shows that Chennai is promising in terms of several opportunities making this a profitable route," said Dieter Hofele, general manager (India), Delta Air Lines. The company will be the only US carrier to serve two cities in India as it already offers 14 flights on the Mumbai-Paris-New York sector every week.

Delta has scheduled the time of departure at 2:30 am from Chennai, arrival at Paris at 9:40 am (local time) and arrival at New York at 3:55 pm (local time).

It is planning to follow the launch with marketing and promotions and even though it has not formally announced any introductory fares it is aiming to be competitive with its pricing.

The new service will be operated with Boeing 767-300ER (extended range) aircraft, featuring 36 business class seats and 163 seats in economy class.

From Paris, Delta together with its SkyTeam partner Air France, will offer customers connections to 12 US destinations and gateways, as well as destinations in Europe, the UK and Africa.

From Delta's US gateways in New York, Atlanta and Cincinnati, it offers customers daily flights on Delta, Delta Shuttle, Delta Connection and Song -its low fare service to business and leisure destinations throughout North America, Latin America and the Caribbean.

The company has bilateral permissions for landing in Kolkata and Delhi which it has not utilised as of now. It also has no plans of weaving an alliance with any domestic airline in the near future.