Air India to start direct flights from Mumbai to JFK airport on Dec 7

National carrier Air India will connect the city with a direct daily flight to JFK airport in New York, starting December,an airline official said Thursday.

The airline currently flies a daily service to Newark's Liberty Airport from the city.

"We will launch our air services to JFK airport from Mumbai from December 7, where we already operate from New Delhi. The flight will be operated three times per week to begin," the official told PTI.

The airline earlier used to fly to JFK through New Delhi, which was discontinued later.

"Now we will be for the first time providing direct connectivity to New York from Mumbai with this new flight," the official said.

This is the second international flight that Air India will be launching from Mumbai this year. It resumed services to Frankfurt from the city on October 16.

The Mumbai-New York route will be catered by a Boeing B777-300 ER plane, the official said.

At present, the government-run airline flies to New York, Washington, San Francisco from New Delhi; Chicago from Hyderabad through New Delhi, besides to Newark from Mumbai.

Currently, it flies nine times per week to San Francisco, seven times a week to Chicago, Newark and JFK and three weekly services to Washington.

Following the launch of the new flights, Air India will be offering a total of 36 weekly flights to the US cities from New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad, as per the official.