Air India to start Ahmedabad-London-Newark route

Admittedly, there's a large Gujarati community in the US. So here's an Independence Day "gift" for them from India's national carrier, Air India, which is expected to start direct operations on the Ahmedabad-London route, according to this report from the Times of India yesterday. What makes this even more interesting is that this will continue on the London-Newark route as a fifth-freedom flight.


A fifth-freedom route is where the airline of country A flies to a point in country B, and onward to country C. And while doing so, it is permitted to pick up passengers from country B to country C. And of course, the route in reverse, from country C to country B, en route to country A.

Air India was supposed to start a flight on the Ahmedabad-London route in December last year, but that didn't take off...no pun intended.

According to the Times of India's report, 
AI's decision comes close on the heels of Modi's visit to Washington early next month and during his previous visits to US and UK, the PM has announced AI flights to those countries while addressing the Indian diaspora there.

Currently, passengers from Ahmedabad bound for London can connect via Mumbai, but will need to change aircraft there. The new service will eliminate that additional stop.

The proposed service is expected to be on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which has 18 business class and 238 economy class seats. Air India has had concerns in the past, with various aspects of its Dreamliner operations. However, there haven't been any such significant events lately, so one could assume things are better than before for AI's Dreamliners!

AI B787 business class (used with permission from owner)

Air India currently operates in London out of Terminal 3, but is soon expected to move to Terminal 2, which is the terminal at which Star Alliance carriers operate from.

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