Time flies, Air India got privatized in 2022, and ever since the Tata group bought the India flag carrier, the airline has been moving fast to once again become the world-class airline it was. The Tata group has made an order for a new fleet with the best aircraft Boeing and Airbus make, rebranded the airline, and temporarily leased a bunch of Delta Airlines and Etihad Airways aircraft to begin both expansion plans and immediate fleet improvements while waiting for the new fleet and retrofitting aircraft. These aircraft have modern products, with direct aisle access in business class, and on top of this, the group has also pushed to improve food service and cabin crew training in hopes of making the airline great again.
The Tata group is genuinely ambitious for the future of the airline; Air India will be able to become a well-known international airline, a path that is tough to achieve. The airline currently does not have a strong global presence, which the Tata Group hopes to achieve. One of the countries they wish to do this in is the United States, and entering the new year of 2025, it is very possible that we could see some new US routes launched by the airline. Here are a few possible routes we could be looking at in the near future from the airline, as well as some other routes that will be good for the airline.
Delhi/Mumbai to Los Angeles
Los Angeles has been a destination the airline has wanted to launch for a while, with rumors of a Delhi to Los Angeles flight starting back in 2017, almost 8 years ago, meaning the airline was thinking about this before the Tata group even took over. The airline has been speaking about launching a flight to Los Angeles for a long time, but there have always been issues related to this flight becoming a reality. To begin with, Air India until recently had a shortage of widebody aircraft for this route, on top of which it is extremely tough for them to find good convenient slots at LAX, but fortunately, everything does seem to be worked out, meaning we would likely see LA to Delhi flights be a thing sooner than later.
According to Aviation A2Z, we have confirmation from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation that Air India has been licensed to operate flights with the number AI 107/AI 108 from Delhi to Los Angeles and back. Air India has been approved to operate these routes daily on a 777 aircraft since the start of December 2024, but the airline has not officially announced it yet, but it is likely to be soon announced.
Regarding the profitability of this route, I think there needs to be a good network of connections to other cities around India, as Delhi would not be able to meet all the demand for Indian travelers. On top of this, there will also likely be competition with Middle Eastern airlines that take on other large-tier cities. However, Air India could tap into travel to smaller towns in India, as they have a true competitive advantage there. On top of this, regarding business travel, a flight to Mumbai would be more profitable, as Mumbai is both India’s financial and entertainment hub. Los Angeles is an American movie capital, so a Mumbai flight would likely be better for attracting business travel. If the airline were to launch both, they could look into using the 787-9 for the one with less demand to make sure to keep their routes profitable.
Ahmedabad to Newark
I have often spoken about how there is a lot of untapped growth within the partnership of Air India and United Airlines, and one of the approaches they can take is Air India making Newark their US hub. Newark is in the US state of New Jersey, and therefore it would be beneficial to offer a route to Gujarat, taking on the damnd of the Gujarati diaspora in the area. On top of this, an extended United Airlines partnership would help them accommodate more of the country by selling seats on some United Airlines domestic flights from the area, too.
Bengaluru/Delhi to Seattle
In early 2020 before the covid pandemic was a thing, American Airlines spoke about the idea of launching a flight from Seattle to Bengaluru, as the 2 cities are both tech hubs and the flight would be able to take on demand for business ravel, but unfortunately, the flight never came into fruition, something that I discussed in another article I wrote called “What Does Trump Mean For Travel Between The United States and India”, where I speak about how US airlines can’t currently fly over Russian airpsace, though India airlines can, a cometitive advantage that Air India currently could use to launch the flight before American Airlines does, which is something that could launch in later 2025.
Air India is currently merging with Vistara, which means they will get access to the 787-9, as that was the aircraft America planned to launch the flight with, or if not, they could use a 777 that they are currently leasing out if there is enough demand. On top of serving Bengaluru, Air India could also serve Delhi, as they tend to serve every overseas route from Delhi. Fortunately, Seattle is a rumored destination for the airline, and something that we could also see come along, with Times of India claiming that Air India is, in fact, rumored to be launching a flight from Delhi to Seattle will be using the A350 aircraft.
Delhi/Hyderabad to Dallas
On top of the Los Angeles route being one that has already been registered, the Delhi to Dallas flight is also one that has been registered by the airline. The airline plans also to launch daily flights on their 777 to Dallas, operating daily from Delhi, hoping to attract demand from the diaspora in Dallas, something that I think would be better suited by a route to Hyderabad or Bengaluru. Both Hyderabad and Bengaluru are large South Indian cities that are commonly visited by people from Dallas due to their large South Indian diaspora communities in the greater Dallas area.
The Sky Wire 