Summary
- Air India plans to begin five-weekly Boeing 777 flights from Delhi to Dallas, with the same equipment used four times weekly to Los Angeles.
- Details of Seattle, which is also coming, are not yet known.
- About 950 passengers flew daily between Dallas and India in the past year.
I recently wrote about Air India’s plan to add Dallas, Los Angeles, and Seattle in 2024 as part of its long-haul expansion this year. While there has not been any official announcement when writing, more details have emerged. Important: as the latest information seems to be from internal schedules, things may change, so do not read too much into it. However, it is highly intriguing.
Air India to Dallas
A tweet on X has revealed additional information regarding the Indian flag carrier’s to-be-announced Dallas service. It expects to begin five-weekly Boeing 777 flights. It stated the code ’77B’, which is believed to refer to ex-Delta 777-200LRs. Such aircraft have more ability to serve the very long route than the 777-300ER.
While subject to change, the schedule is expected to be as follows, with all times local. The timings correspond to the biggest departure and arrival banks of Air India’s other North American services at its Delhi hub.
- Delhi to Dallas: AI199, 02:00-09:10 (17h 40 block)
- Dallas to Delhi: AI198, 12:10-14:00+1 (16h 10m)
Air India Expected To Add 3 More US Cities In 2024 Among Wider International Growth
This is where it hopes to begin flying this year.
What else?
Dallas is stated as beginning on February 1st. However, as this is less than a month away, I do not believe this is true. Still, the airline has form with quick commencements, such as Delhi-Amsteram announced less than six weeks before it started.
If it transpires to be correct, it would be unbelievable: long-haul routes need a minimum of three months’ notice to drive awareness and sales. Six months is ideal.
Photo: Eliyahu Yosef Parypa | Shutterstock
At 8,186 miles (13,173 km), Delhi-Dallas would be Air India’s third-longest route network-wide and its longest from Delhi. Given the length of haul and despite the 777-200LR, it seems it will be problematic operationally, especially in winter.
Not only would it incur higher operating costs than most other North American routes simply due to its longer duration, but it is very likely to have payload restrictions. Both will undermine performance.
Dallas-India passengers
According to booking data, Dallas had about 950 daily passengers to/from India in the past year. Emirates and Qatar Airways carried the most passengers, followed by Turkish Airlines, American Airlines, and Air France. (Interesting that British Airways was not higher.)
Unusually, Hyderabad was very much the largest market, followed by Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram, and Nagpur. Not surprisingly, the first five of these accounted for the vast majority (~87%) of the traffic.
Image: GCMap
What about Los Angeles?
The same tweet provided a snippet of information about Los Angeles, previously served by Air India via Frankfurt until 2008, but most of the details were hidden.
A four-weekly 777 service is expected, seemingly with the flight numbers AI195 out and AI194 back. As it is down to leave Los Angeles at 09:00 to arrive back at 14:00+1, it would presumably leave Delhi around 04:00 – very similar to San Francisco.
What do you make of it all? Let us know in the comments.
