Air India buying 100 more Airbus planes
Air India on Monday confirmed it has placed an order to purchase 100 more Airbus aircraft, comprising 10 widebody A350 and 90 narrowbody A320 aircraft, including A321neo.
National carrier Air India will launch flights to three new destinations in the US as well as to Stockholm, Nairobi and Tel Aviv this year, its CMD Ashwani Lohani said on 9 May.
Making it the fifth non-stop destination in the United States, a direct service would start to Washington from 7 July, followed by a flight to Los Angeles from 1 September and then to Dallas.
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The airline, which is working on ways to revive its fortunes, would commence service to the Swedish capital Stockholm from 15 August.
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Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani said it would also start flights to Tel Aviv (Israel), Nairobi (Kenya) and Dallas (the US) this year.
“To Washington from July 7, Stockholm from 15 August and Los Angeles from 1 September to be followed by Tel Aviv, Dallas and Nairobi sometime later during the year 2017 itself. Air India spreads its wings far and wide,” Lohani said in a Facebook post.
Washington would be the airline's fifth non-stop destination in the US after New York, Newark, Chicago and San Francisco.
The move to fly to more destinations in the US also comes against the backdrop of the carrier seeing higher demand on the flights to America after the Trump administration imposed restrictions on flights originating from certain airports in the Middle East and North Africa.
Citing terror concerns, the US in March had imposed restrictions on travellers to the US from certain countries in the Middle East and North Africa, whereby they are not allowed carry large electronic devices as cabin baggage.
As part of expanding its flights to the US, Air India would also be inducting seven Boeing 787-9 planes.
Services to the US account for nearly 20 per cent of the national carrier's total annual revenues.
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