Summary
- As previously mentioned, Air India plans to add seven international destinations, including Dallas, Los Angeles, and Seattle.
- It would provide the only non-stop flights to those cities from India.
- Could Boston, Houston, and Atlanta be future targets? Each has 700+ daily passengers to/from India.
Air India has taken another step ahead of announcing service to seven international destinations this year: Dallas Fort Worth, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Los Angeles, Rome Fiumicino, Seattle, and Zurich. The carrier previously flew to five of them. When writing, it is still unknown when they will be announced.
Three more US destinations coming
On January 1st, I wrote about how Air India plans to add additional destinations in 2024. Most excitingly, they include three US airports, as shown in one of the following images. All three are among Delhi's five largest unserved North American markets, helping to offset not being Star Alliance hubs.
None of the airports presently have Indian flights, so it will be a significant development. It will impact the Middle Eastern giants that serve the airports, which rely on Indian traffic for passenger volume. Other carriers do, too.
Only Los Angeles has been served by the Star Alliance carrier before. Using the Boeing 747-400, it flew from Delhi via Frankfurt in both directions. When it returns, it will be Air India's first non-stop service to the city.
While undoubtedly subject to change, further snippets of information have since surfaced. These include that Dallas might be served five weekly – it would be the carrier's third-longest route network-wide – and Los Angeles four weekly.
It seems that Air India's ex-Delta Boeing 777-200LRs will be used. However, despite the LR, the length of haul suggests that a payload restriction will be incurred to Dallas, particularly with winter winds.
Up To 5 Weekly Boeing 777 Delhi Flights? Details Emerge Of Air India’s Dallas & Los Angeles Plans
This is what is currently known.Where else in the US?
It seems odd to consider possible future North American destinations for Air India when those three markets await an announcement. However, rest assured that the planning goes on unabated within the carrier.
Might Houston, an important Star Alliance hub, materialize? Looking only at traffic, booking data shows it had ~800 daily passengers to/from India in the year to October 2023. However, it is even farther than Dallas and would present even more significant operational problems. Then there's Atlanta (~750 daily).
Boston has been publicly stated as coming, yet intriguingly, it was not among those destinations disclosed. This means little. It is a big market (~700 passengers daily), and one aircraft could be dedicated to it with a three-weekly service. It would be interesting to see how many passengers fly from Boston to join Air India's non-stop flights from Newark/JFK.
Where would you like the carrier to fly in North America? Let us know in the comments.