United to start non-stop US-India flights

washington: as if in keeping with the growing bond between the united states and india, united airlines, the world's largest airline headed by indian-american rono dutta, is introducing a non-stop chicago-new delhi flight from october 27. the direct flight has been a dream for long-suffering frequent flyers from both countries who are forced to endure stopovers in europe or the far east that lasts anywhere from 90 minutes to six hours, making travel between the two countries a full-day affair.united's direct flight will reduce the time to a non-stop 14-hour journey. the flight will leave chicago's o'hare airport at 3.40 p.m. and arrive at new delhi's indira gandhi international airport at 5.23 p.m the following day. flights from new delhi will take an estimated 15 hours and leave at 11:15 a.m., arriving in chicago at 2:50 p.m. both the departure and arrival times are ideal for people with onward connections within the two countries. most flights in and out of india to the united states arrive and depart at odd hours of the night, forcing more domestic layovers. united becomes the first american airline to fly direct to and from india. "it's more a business decision than a sentimental one." the calcutta-born dutta told this correspondent in an interview. "we have been wanting to do this for the past three-four years but there were regulatory hurdles to overcome and we are delighted to have done that." dutta, who is an alumnus of iit kharagpur, worked his way up to head the world's largest airline after starting his career as an airline industry analyst with booz allen. his collegemate rakesh gangwal is a top honcho with us airways, another major american carrier. the two airlines had announced a merger but that has been scuppered by regulatory problems. united began operating to india in the mid-1990s under a code-sharing arrangement with air india but that deal ran into problems. after a hiatus, the airline resumed its india operations with flights via london and hong kong. but dutta said united at all times was looking for ways to overcome hurdles to initiate a direct non-stop flights. the problems included overflights across russia and finding alternate airports in the area in case of emergencies. the 7500-mile journey to be undertaken by boeing 747-400s is quite likely the second longest flight in terms of range and distance, just ten minutes shy of united's chicago-hong kong flight. dutta said the decision to originate the flight from o'hare centered around operating from united strongest hub (chicago is united's headquarters). it would also enable the airline pick up traffic from both the east coast and west coast of america. dutta said india has been underserved from the united states and the new flights will both tap a fast-growing market. he declined to reveal the numbers but said "we have got our forecasts and we'd like to keep it to ourselves." despite the economic downturn that is creeping across the world and stray reports of a drop in passengers flying out of india, international airlines appear to be confident of business. lufthansa is starting a direct frankfurt-bangalore flight from september 1. dutta did not go into fare details either, merely saying united would be "competitive." a typical economy class fare between for an us-india passage (with stopover) ranges from $900 to $1500 depending on the season and the discounts.