With global fuel prices declining by an average of 40 per cent of what they were earlier, Air India is to make another attempt to provide a non-stop connection from Delhi to San Francisco.
On the day that Prime Minister, Narendra Modi met with IT giants in California, Air India announced that it will launch a three-times-a week non-stop connection between Delhi and San Francisco from December 2 this year.
In a statement to the media AI announced Sunday that the flight will operate from Delhi on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Incidentally the airline is to use the Boeing 777-200 Long Range aircraft, five of which it sold to Etihad in 2013. Etihad used the aircraft it purchased from Air India to launch services to Los Angeles.
The five Boeing 777-200 LR sold to Etihad were part of the 68 aircraft order worth Rs 35,000 crore that AI had signed in 2005. Since the time that AI sold the aircraft to Etihad, the Abu Dhabi-based carrier has acquired a 26 per cent stake in Jet Airways.
Air India now plans to utilise the remaining three Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft which were part of the original order to operate to San Francisco.
Air India officials that the Hindu Business Line spoke to said that the flight will offer the opportunity to AI passengers to have dinner in Delhi and breakfast in San Francisco.
AI officials justified the sale of 5 Boeing 777-200 LR to Etihad saying that the deal yielded $ 350 million which helped retire debt for the state-owned airline.
``With global fuel prices very high, the B 777-200 LR was used sub-optimally. But now with fuel at under $60 a barrel, Air India should be able to make a profit on the operations to and from San Francisco,” an official who declined to be identified said.
Whether Air India’s three times-a-week service to San Francisco will be able to compete with daily services offered by a host of other global carriers based in the Middle East and Europe who offer connections from various parts of India to the West Coast of the United States remains to be seen.