Travellers to the United States will have more choice with Delta announcing its return to Mumbai after a four-year gap. The airline will begin direct flights to New York from December 22, taking the number of daily direct services to the United States from Mumbai to three.
Delta had pulled out in 2015 citing the onslaught of Gulf carriers as a reason. With Jet Airways having stopped operations, Air India and United are the only carriers operating direct flights. This will be the only direct flight to Mumbai to be operated by any U.S.-based carrier. The flight will depart Mumbai at 12:50 a.m. and arrive in New York at 6.35 a.m. local time. The flight will leave New York at 9.15 p.m. and reach Mumbai at 10.50 p.m. the next day. Both the flights will be night flights.
With the start of this new non-stop service, Delta will discontinue its one-stop service to India via Paris. Delta’s new nonstop service to Mumbai will replace the existing one-stop service to Mumbai and Chennai. The new flights will reduce flying time by at least four hours in each direction when compared to the current one-stop service.
Roberto Ioriatti, vice president, Transatlantic, Delta, said the airline’s return to India in time for the holiday season marked a milestone for the company.
“Our non-stop service will be the fastest way for customers to travel between Mumbai and New York. And thanks to the huge range of onward flights from our JFK hub, Delta is opening up America for Indian-based business and leisure customers,” he said.
The new service will become Delta’s second-longest flight, and the airline will deploy its newly-renovated Boeing 777-200LR aircraft on the route. The aircraft features the Delta One Suite — an all-suite business class cabin — as well as the premium economy offering Delta Premium Select, in addition to Delta Comfort+ and Main Cabin options. An airline spokesperson said customers can enjoy a range of services, including free mobile messaging via WhatsApp, iMessage and Facebook Messenger thanks to the on-board Wi-Fi. Delta, which first started flying directly between New York and Mumbai in 2006, discontinued the service in 2008, shifting operations to serve Mumbai via Amsterdam. This too was discontinued in 2015. The airline inherited the route from Northwest.
Analysts are, however, sceptical as to how it will get connecting traffic, with Jet Airways — with which it had announced a partnership — missing in action. The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Travel and Trade Office had last year said 13.5 lakh Indian travellers went to US in 2017-18 and 11.1 lakh Americans came to India. A quarter of these flew one-stop flights, mostly via the Gulf region.
According to OAG, for bookings between October 2017 and September 2018, the direct flights of AI and United accounted for 17% and 7% of travellers while the remaining 76% flew one-stop or more. Rajeev Jain, Chief Executive Officer, Mumbai International Airport Ltd said, “Direct flights between Mumbai and New York will provide improved connectivity between the countries and will be extremely convenient for Indians travelling to and from the U.S.”
