NEW YORK, Nov. 1, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Delta Air Lines -- the world's fastest growing international airline -- tonight will make history when it inaugurates the first and only nonstop service between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and Mumbai, India. The new route is the latest milestone in the ongoing restructuring of Delta's route network to connect more global centers of commerce to the United States nonstop, replacing routes that previously required flight connections in Europe.
"We understand that our customers' most valuable commodity is their time, and we are giving back thousands of hours each year to customers flying between the United States and India who previously had to make international connections to reach Mumbai," said Bob Cortelyou, Delta's vice president - Network Planning.
The new flights will significantly improve customer travel times between Mumbai and the United States, reducing the flight duration by at least two hours in each direction when compared to other airlines' one-stop service.
Between Mumbai and New York, Delta will operate service using Boeing 777-200ER aircraft seating up to 268 passengers with 50 seats in BusinessElite, Delta's award-winning business class service. By summer, all customers choosing to fly BusinessElite between Mumbai and New York will enjoy Delta's recently enhanced service, including more comfortable seats with all-leather coverings, improved leg rests, more comfortable cushioning throughout the seat, and the same 60 inches of legroom that has made BusinessElite a customer favorite.
Customers in both business and economy cabins on flights between New York and India will enjoy authentic Indian cuisine, and by summer, enhanced in-seat entertainment featuring more than 20 first-run and popular classic movies, a variety of TV programs, a broad range of music and a suite of 12 video games. Also, in 2008, Delta will introduce fully horizontal lie-flat seats on its Boeing 777 fleet, offering improved comfort for all business class customers flying between New York and Mumbai.
"Being a truly global airline requires more than a route network that takes customers where they want to go. Delta also takes great pride in serving international customers with the international expertise they expect," Cortelyou said. "Customers flying Delta to India will enjoy specially designed Indian cuisine and excellent service from a team of trained Hindi-speaking flight attendants."
Delta's new nonstop service between New York-JFK and Mumbai, India is scheduled as follows:
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Flight Departs Arrives Effective Frequency
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16 New York-JFK Mumbai Nov. 1, Daily
at 9:20 p.m. at 10:10 p.m. 2006
(next day)
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17 Mumbai New York-JFK Nov. 3, Daily
at 12:10 a.m. at 6 a.m. 2006
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Delta's new nonstop service between New York and Mumbai is the latest in a series of new international routes that have boosted Delta to operate the most departures to the most destinations from New York-JFK. In total, Delta now operates 167 peak day flights to 70 worldwide destinations from its burgeoning hub at JFK, including nonstop service to 31 international destinations. Other recently announced new routes include New York-JFK to: London-Gatwick, England (effective Nov. 15); Punta Cana, Dominican Republic(a) (effective Dec. 9); Accra, Ghana (effective Dec. 11); St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands (effective March 3, 2007); Pisa/Florence, Italy (effective May 31, 2007)(a); and Bucharest, Romania (effective June 5, 2007)(a).
Delta Air Lines (Other OTC:DALRQ) offers customers service to more destinations than any global airline with Delta and Delta Connection carrier service to 290 destinations in 46 countries. With more than 50 new international routes added in the last year, Delta is America's fastest growing international airline and is a leader across the Atlantic with flights to 28 trans-Atlantic destinations. To Latin America and the Caribbean, Delta offers more than 400 weekly flights to 49 destinations. Delta's marketing alliances also allow customers to earn and redeem SkyMiles on more than 14,000 flights offered by SkyTeam and other partners. Delta is a founding member of SkyTeam, a global airline alliance that provides customers with extensive worldwide destinations, flights and services. Including its SkyTeam and worldwide codeshare partners, Delta offers flights to 445 worldwide destinations in 92 countries. Customers can check in for flights, print boarding passes and check flight status at delta.com.
(a) Subject to foreign government approval.
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