Private carrier Air India on Friday commenced Airbus A350 services on ultra-long-haul routes with the deployment of the aircraft on the Delhi-New York route.
This comes at a time when the Tata-Group run carrier has temporarily cancelled some 60 flights to various US destinations between November 15 and December 31 on account of the non-availability of some of its widebody planes due to maintenance and supply chain issues.
Following the introduction of the A350-900 aircraft on the Delhi-New York flight, Air India said it will start a five times a-week A350 service from Delhi to Newark's Liberty International Airport from January 2 next year.
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Air India currently has six Airbus A350-900 aircraft in its fleet.
Generally, ultra-long-haul flights are those having a duration of 16 hours or more. Air India operates such flights to North America.
The loss-making Air India had inducted the first A350-900 in the fleet in December last year. Following this, the airline initially deployed the plane on domestic routes and later on for operating medium-haul long international flights including to London from Delhi.
"Guest feedback on the aircraft and new customer experience has been exceptionally positive since it was launched on the Delhi-London Heathrow route in September, so we are excited to now bring it to New York," said Campbell Wilson, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Air India.
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Air India is also looking forward to commencing the full interior refit of existing aircraft in 2025 he added.