Air India has added another long-haul flight to its network. The carrier resumed its Mumbai-New York JFK service on February 14th as part of its larger global expansion. As the new management focuses on fleet optimization and expansion, the latest service to the US is expected to be one of many to come in the near future.

Mumbai-JFK back on the map

On February 14th, Air India resumed its flight between Mumbai (BOM) and New York (JFK) after a gap of almost four years. The last time Air India flew this route was in March 2019.

Flight AI119 has a scheduled departure time of 00:55 but took off a little over an hour later at 02:18, according to FlightRadar24.com. At the time of writing, it was a little over seven hours into the flight, with more than eight and a half hours to go, making this flight more than 15 hours in duration. The return flight AI 116 will depart New York at 10:55 hrs (local time) to arrive in Mumbai at 11:35 hrs+1 day.

Air India has deployed its newly acquired Boeing 777-200LR on this route. The plane (VT-AEF) previously flew for Delta Air Lines and offers a premium heavy 238-seat configuration, which also includes premium economy. Campbell Wilson, CEO & MD of Air India, commented,

“A key element of Air India’s Vihaan.AI transformation is considerably improving connectivity between India's major cities and major global destinations. Adding this new service from Mumbai to New York JFK, following December’s launch of non-stop flights from Mumbai to San Francisco, affirms our commitment to develop a major international hub in India’s commercial capital…”

Get the latest aviation news straight to your inbox: Sign up for our newsletters today.

Third attempt

This isn’t the first time Air India has flown the Mumbai-JFK route. According to the US Department of Transportation (DOT) data, the carrier previously offered this non-stop service between August 2007 and October 2010, then again from December 2018 to March 2019.

Air India hopes to cash in on demand for this sector. As pointed out by Simple Flying earlier, more than 145,000 roundtrip point-to-point passengers flew Mumbai-JFK in 2019. The average price each way between these two destinations was $540 (excluding taxes and any fuel surcharge). This was among the highest of all significant India-North America markets and 10% higher than Mumbai-Newark.

The latest flight is Air India’s third non-stop flight to the US out of Mumbai. The carrier already connects BOM with Newark (EWR) and San Francisco (SFO). Air India says that the BOM-JFK flight resumption is part of the airline’s effort to “develop Mumbai as a significant hub, second only to Delhi, providing maximum international connectivity between India and the rest of the world.”

Check out more Indian aviation news here.

Air India now has 47 non-stop flights between India and the US, which also include flights from Delhi to New York, Newark, Washington DC, San Francisco, and Chicago, and from Bengaluru to San Francisco.

What do you think about Air India’s US flight strategy? Which other destinations in the US would you like to see in Air India’s network?

• 

  Air India

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  AI/AIC

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport

  Year Founded:

  1946

  Alliance:

  Star Alliance

  CEO:

  Campbell Wilson

  Country:

  India

  Region:

  Asia

• 

  Mumbai Airport

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  BOM/VABB

  Country:

  India

  Runways :

  09/27 - 3,660m (12,000ft) | 14/32 - 2,990m (9,810ft)

  Terminals:

  Terminal 1 | Terminal 2 | General Aviation Terminal

• 

  New York JFK Airport

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  JFK/KJFK

  Country:

  United States

  CEO:

  Rick Cotton (Executive Director of Port Authority of NY and NJ)

  Passenger Count :

  16,630,642 (2020)

  Runways :

  4L/22R - 3,682m (12,079 ft) | 4R/22L - 2,560m (8,400 ft) | 13L/31R - 3,048m (10,000 ft) | 13R/31L - 4,423m (14,511 ft)

  Terminals:

  Terminal 1 | Terminal 2 | Terminal 4 | Terminal 5 | Terminal 7 | Terminal 8