Delhi Airport gets direct flights to Italy, US

New Delhi, Dec 4 : Delhi is now directly connected to Rome and Washington with the inauguration of two new flights from the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

On December 1, the Taipei-Delhi-Rome service, operated by China Airlines touched down at the IGIA, while the country's National Carrier, Air India, too expanded its flight network by launching its new daily Delhi-Washington (IAD), a spokesperson for Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (DIAL) told reporters here.

The IGI Airport is now connected to 52 International destinations across four continents by 48 airlines.

The spokesperson noted that the flight to Rome would give a boost to the Indo-Italian bilateral ties.

''Italy is the fourth largest export market in the European Union for India and a large immigrant Indian population of around 70,000 people also resides in the country. The new flight is for now the only direct air link between the two countries,'' he said.

Italy is also the fourth most popular destination in Europe in terms of passenger traffic flows to or from Delhi. During the last financial year, nearly 1.9 lakh passengers flew between Delhi and Italy.

The flight to Washington is an extension to the existing Delhi-New York (JFK) service and Air India is the first airline to operate on this route.

''In the last financial year, approximately 40,000 passengers flew between Delhi and Washington, making it the fifth largest US market in terms of passenger flows to or from Delhi, sitting only behind New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles,'' the spokesperson said.

He said Delhi now has 38 weekly flights to North America, 28 to the US and 10 to Canada. Around 24 out of the 38 flights are operated by Indian carriers, indicative of the potential of the Indian airline sector.

Giving details about the flight schedule, an IGIA official said flights operated by an Airbus A330-300 aircraft with 36 business class and 277 economy class seats will depart from Taipei Taoyuan International Airport at 0825 hrs every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, reaching Delhi at 1310 hrs for a 75-minute transit stop before arriving in Rome at 1840 hrs the same day.

The return flights will leave at 2240 hrs from Rome and reach Delhi at 1055 hrs the next day for a 75-minute transit stop before arriving in Taipei at 2020 hrs that day.

The DEL-JFK-IAD Flight AI 101, operated by Boeing 777-200LR with a total of eight first class seats, 35 business class and 195 economy class seats, departs Delhi daily at 0030 hrs arriving JFK at 0545 hrs.

It departs JFK airport at 0815 hrs, arriving in Washington (IAD Airport) at 0930 hrs. The return service AI 102 leaves IAD at 1210 hrs, arriving at 1325 hrs. It then leaves for Delhi at 1600 hrs, arriving at 1645 hrs the next day.

--UNI