Air India resuming flights from London to New York August 15

India’s national carrier Air India recently announced it will be resuming its flights to New York from London from August this year. The airline operated flights on transatlantic route many years ago. Media reports said the flights between Ahmedabad and New York via London would be re-launched starting from August 15, 2016. The service on the route will be operated thrice weekly. Air India will be deploying a Boeing 787 aircraft configured in two classes – Business Class and Economy Class – to offer flights services on the route. The airline will be offering 18 seats in business class and 238 seats in economy class.

Air India, which currently holds historic fifth-freedom rights for conducting flights services on this lucrative transatlantic route, said that this time it will be operating flights from Ahmedabad to Newark Liberty via London. Earlier, the airline used to operate flights from Delhi to New York JFK via London.

A spokesperson of Air India said that the new service is being primarily launched for meeting the demands of the flourishing Gujarati community in India for better connectivity to both U.S. East Coast and London. The business travelers residing on either side of the Atlantic will find the London-New York sector to be of vital importance and benefit.

The airline while providing details of the new schedule said that Flight A171 would make its departure from London Heathrow at 12.30 hours and reach New York’s Newark Liberty International Airport at 15.00 hours. The outbound flight would be operated thrice weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The return Flight A172 would take off from Newark Liberty at 00.20 hours and arrive at London Heathrow at 12.05 hours the same morning (local time). The inbound flight would be operated on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays every week. Air India has indicated that it will be reducing its flights operations between Delhi and London Heathrow from the existing thrice daily flights to twice daily flights in order to accommodate the new Ahmedabad-London-Newark Liberty route.