New Delhi: Air India on Sunday announced the resumption of non-stop flights to New York and Newark from Delhi and Mumbai following the easing of airspace restrictions, reducing travel time by up to five hours.
The airline had started operating these flights without a stopover in the first week of November, using Iraqi airspace, sources told PTI on November 6.
Air India operates one daily flight to New York and four weekly services to Newark from Delhi. All these flights use A350-900 aircraft.
From Mumbai, the airline operates daily flights to New York and three weekly services to Newark using Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
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With the easing of airspace restrictions, the total travel time on the four routes has been reduced by around five hours to approximately 17 hours, Air India said. Earlier, the flights took around 22 hours because they had to make a technical stop in Rome, Italy, for refuelling.
The closure of Pakistani airspace and restrictions across parts of the Middle East amid regional conflicts had significantly affected flight routes between India and North America this year.
Consequently, Air India's flights from Delhi and Mumbai to New York's John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) had to make a technical stop in Rome for refuelling.
"With airspace restrictions eased, Air India has now resumed non-stop operations on all four India-New York routes," the airline said.
Earlier, the longer routes taken by these flights through Jordan and Egypt had increased flying time and fuel consumption.
Last month, a senior airline official said the airspace restrictions, particularly those linked to the West Asia crisis, had significantly affected operations, with the impact being worse than the previous year.
"The more airspaces are closed, the more southwards flights have to go… the more southwards flights have to go, the more the fuel bill. So, it (airspace curbs) is worse than what we had last year," the official had said.
