Air India to ply New Delhi-Mumbai hourly

TO SCORE a bigger share of Indian airspace, Air India has ramped up four-times-daily services to non-stop hourly flights between New Delhi and Mumbai, from 06.00 to 23.00 every day via Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft.

The airline ran a short promotion over the last three days, offering discounted fares for flights between January 16, 2013 and March 31, 2013.

The low ticket prices are likely to boost air travel in the lean first quarter, said travel consultants.

Anil Punjabi, chairman-east, Travel Agents Federation of India, said: “(The initiative) augurs well for connectivity between key destinations. Special discounted fares will increase travel, and hourly flights between Mumbai and New Delhi is the icing on the cake.”

In a separate development, Air India also has plans to reconfigure five or more Boeing B777s to an all-economy configuration and use them on routes linking India and Gulf cities, such as Mumbai and New Delhi to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Jeddah, in order to earn greater revenue.

Sanjay Maniar, director, Travelaid, said: “All-economy flights to the Gulf are a great idea to snatch business from international carriers flying the same routes to India.”

Sourced: TTG Asia