If various reports are to be believed, Air India is eyeing expansion of its service network in the United States. The airline would operate nonstop flights to India from Boston, Los Angeles and other US cities in the next few months, as part of its 5-year development plan named Vihaan.AI. Currently, Washington DC, New York JFK, Newark EWR, Chicago ORD, and San Francisco are the only destinations of Air India’s nonstop flights to USA from India.
“The reports of Air India planning to add Los Angeles and Boston to its US-India nonstop service corridor is no surprise to us. In our exclusive news article about the airline’s $70bn aircraft deal, we had hinted at Air India’s potential plans for penetrating the US market further. However, we had little idea that Boston and LAX would steal the show while Atlanta, Seattle, Houston and Dallas have been lobbying with Indian authorities for nonstop flights for years,” said Sourav Agarwal, the Editor of Travel Beats.
PC: Boeing
The launch of Boston and Los Angeles to India nonstop flights is being highly anticipated in early 2024, coinciding with the induction of six A350-900 aircraft into Air India’s long-haul fleet. This is just a fraction of the airline’s order of 40 A350s, including 34 A350-1000 aircraft. In his most recent interviews, CEO Campbell Wilson said that the ageing fleet with outdated cabins had been a deterrent to the Tata airline’s growth and expansion in international markets.
Six A350-900s will add a total of 144 premium economy seats to Air India flights for international service. Indians of Southern California and New England would get a taste of Air India’s Premium Economy service on board if A350-900s are deployed for the upcoming new routes between USA and India. Each Airbus 350-900 will come with 24 Premium Economy, 28 Business and 264 Economy seats. A350-900s have business class seats with direct aisle access and doors for passengers’ privacy. With 31-inch seat pitch, economy seats will be a breather for travelers.
“Our customers who have taken Air India’s premium economy flights from SFO and JFK to Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru are all praise of the seats, meals and other inflight service. We are thrilled to share with you the below feedback from the traveler named Diwakar,” said the chief travel advisor of Indian Eagle, a most trusted air-ticketing partner of Indian Diaspora in America,
“We recently traveled by Air India from Mumbai to San Francisco in Premium Economy class. The entire journey was most comfortable. It was a great surprise by Air India for travelers preferring nonstop travel. In the last 20 years, we have traveled to USA many times. It was our 18th trip and the BEST travel experience. Kudos to AIR INDIA!”
A glimpse of A350-900s to be inducted into Air India’s fleet
Why are Boston and Los Angeles being targeted as highly potential destinations for new nonstop Air India flights to USA? The primary reason being the growing Indian immigrant community in Southern California and New England. In Southern California, Greater Los Angeles alone houses an inflated Indian-origin populace of more than 200,000. New England comprising Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont in the northeast US, is home to a growing base of over 1 lakh Indians.
Boston is centrally located in New England, which makes Boston Logan Airport seamlessly accessible from Albany, Hartford, Milford, New Haven, Stamford, Cambridge, Providence, Springfield, Greenwich and other cities. Los Angeles International Airport is much nearer than SFO to Arizona and Southern Nevada by road. If Air India’s nonstop flight service to LAX becomes a reality, it will be a double celebration for Indians in Southern California. They are most likely to get an Indian Consulate in Los Angeles as an online petition is garnering their support.
Currently, IndianEagle.com has best deals for LAX and Boston to India flights by Emirates, Qatar Airways, Lufthansa, Turkish Airways, SWISS Airlines and others. Once Air India’s plans for nonstop travel from Boston and Los Angeles to India take shape, it will trigger a fare war with other airlines on these routes.
When will they fly to Seattle, also there were no other sources about this.
Hi! In our assumption, Seattle is in the queue. The nonstop connectivity from Los Angeles was long overdue. Of course, Boston being considered for nonstop travel to India is a surprise. We are sanguine Seattle and Dallas would get their share of nonstop air connectivity to India.
What about increasing the frequency from Washington DC? Anything from Calcutta too?
Hi Rajan! In our knowledge, future nonstop flights from more US cities will be destined to New Delhi and/or Mumbai. FYI, New Delhi IGI Airport is being developed as a transit hub for international travelers.
People are moving out of California to Texas due to the coast of living even big companies are moving out so I think you should consider Texas above California
Hi Benny! Nonstop connectivity from Los Angeles was long overdue. It is just the beginning. With more new aircraft to be inducted, Air India will be penetrating the US marketing further. We are sanguine Dallas/Houston to be connected to India with nonstop flights in the near future.
Anyway, these flights will be started from Mumbai or Delhi and they won’t consider Chennai.
ThankYou Emirates/Qatar for providing a connection to Chennai via MiddleEast.
I fly from DFW to LHR onwards to MAA. Or via Colombo to TRV. Much more convenient that Qatar or Emirates with a 11 hour flight and couple of hours of break if you fly to Chennai directly from London.
If you fly Srilankan to Thiruvananthapuram or Kochi, the connection is at 9 pm or so and I usually get out to London to spend time. In Colombo Srilankan provides you with free hotel for overnight stay for connections to Thiruvananthapuram. For about $80 you can get a private tour of Colombo.
The service and food onboard Srilankan is excellent.
Hi Srimanikandhan! Thank you for sharing this information with us!
Chennai doesn’t even have a non stop Air India to Europe. Why does most flights have to fly out of Delhi. already several foreign airlines fly there. its not only they give so many choice for people flying to DEL. They also get a dicounted fares… fare are at least 200-300$ more to Chennai compared to DEL/BOM/BLR.
Air India needs to fly at least a non stop to Europe(From MAA) now .. right now.. to begin at least few times a week if not daily.. United or other Star alliance partner can connect. Kindly request IndiaEagle to forward this request.
leaving most populous dallas region aside and strating non stop from boston and Los Angeles doesnt make any sense considering bothe these regions already got one non stop flights within 2 hr connection in JFK and SFO. Air india’s leadership should work on their road maps and ROI properly.
Can hardly wait. But is the visa going to be less trouble to get?
Hi Katherine! What visa are you talking about?
Any plan to start non stop services from Seattle to Delhi/Mumbai?
Hi Sunil! Seattle will definitely get nonstop air connectivity to India in the near future. Many surprises are anticipated given Air India’s fleet modernization and ongoing transformation.
Hope Air India flies direct to Auckland NZ, Nigeria and South Africa. Lot of Indians need direct connectivity.
Help us get visa for India
When was this article written? This is a subject I closely follow and if the LAX news is true then that would be such a big boon as a Delhiite who lives in SoCal. Could you provide link(s) to official announcements or speculations from Air India?
Hi Ankit! This article was published on July 27. It is based on the insider information that the airline is evaluating many aspects of starting nonstop service from LAX, Boston and other cities. With new planes getting ready to be inducted into the fleet, Air India will expand its network in the US for sure.
Will there be nonstop flights to chennai? I see only mumbai, delhi & Bangalore.
Hi Praveen! As far as we know, Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru airports are being developed as transit hubs for international arrivals in India.
very sure i hope @ beginning air india airbus a350-900 would go directly non-stop from newark liberty airport to delhi & then bit later air india airbus a350-1,000 directly non-stop fron newark libery airport to delhi.
Hi,
Atlanta definitely needs it and a big potential market. Especially travelling to Hyd from ATL has only two major options Qatar and British airways. Do you know when it’s going to happen?
Hi Ram! Hope never dies. Someday, Atlanta’s turn for nonstop air connectivity to India will definitely come.
Hi,
When will be booking open for this new Boston Flight? Do you really think they will start this year? Any insight helpful?
Hi Sundar! We will share on our portal and social media pages whenever further updates are available.
Any chances that direct flight will start from Tampa/Orlando Florida to Mumbai India? We have very less options to avoid 2 stops!
Hi Beena! Turkish Airlines is likely to start one-stop service between Orlando and India. FYI, Emirates Airlines has Orlando to India itineraries with one-stop layover. You can check and book Emirates flight deals on IndianEagle.com.
When can we expect a direct flight from Dallas to India? It has been a long time waiting..
Hi Hari! International network expansion is one of the milestones that Air India is looking forward to with new aircraft to be inducted into the fleet.
Chennai really needs a non stop badly from Air India.. at least to Europe so that other Star Alliance partners can connect to US. Europe airlines choices are not enough. already lot of foreign airlines other than EK/QR fly to Delhi. Air india also keeps flying more to non stops to Europe and US Del.
with less choices flights to Chennai cost $200-300 more than Delhi. Kindly request India Eagle to request non stop at least few times a week to (begin with) to Europe so that families can see a little relief on the flight fare.
Hi Diwakar! Among the European airlines, Lufthansa and British Airways fly to Chennai. Indian Eagle is a leading travel-booking portal. You can check our portal for the best deals for travel to/from Chennai.
Is there any news of a direct flights to Bangalore from a US east coast hub? I understand west coast connectivity but there seems to be enough of a market from the east as well. Thanks!
Hi Sanjay! There’s no indication as of now. Hope this route be a consideration for Air India.
Its a pity there are no direct flights from Hyderabad which is supposedly has some of the highest traffic to the US
Hi Sriram! We could not agree more. The strength of Telugu diaspora in the United States is more than 7 lakh. They deserve direct flight service to Hyderabad.
Please consider a non stop flight from Dallas to Mumbai. There are a lot of Indians in Dallas and more migrating from California and Chicago. We have no non-stop flights to India.
Hi Mihir! We could not agree more on this. The Indian community in Dallas Metropolitan Area deserves nonstop flight service to India. The day is not far when Dallas Indians will get to travel to the home country without international transit.
Been waiting forever for a Dallas-Mumbai non stop, now Air-India got new aircraft, what is the bottleneck here, is it from Indian side or US side? Dallas Mumbaikars should start a group push for this to happen now, we have waited so long.
Seattle to Hyderabad please!!! Any chance of that??
LAX has had so many false starts. This is the 3rd time since 2017 that AI has hinted at LAX, only for it to expand elsewhere when they received more aircraft. Time for them to put their money where their mouth is or to shut up because quite frankly this is getting old.
Will you be considering BOSTON TO CHENNAI DIRECT SERVICE ?
Chennai should have lot of demand as 4th biggest Metropolitan city of India.
CHENNAI is a gateway to South India and lot of people travel from here.