india

Updated: Jun 18, 2019 13:01 IST

Air India will launch four new flights in September, three of which will start from Mumbai.

On Monday, civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri directed Air India to start direct flight service to Nairobi in Kenya.

The minister announced the new connectivity by tweeting about it.

Puri’s tweet read, ‘I am delighted to announce that on the occasion of World Tourism Day on 27th Sept 2019, @airindiain will begin a direct Mumbai-Nairobi flight (4 days a week) to improve air connectivity between India & Kenya.’

The flight will fly to Nairobi four times a week from September 27.

A senior airline officer said, “Boeing 787 aircraft with 256 seating capacity will fly to Nairobi from Mumbai.”

On September 27, Air India will also launch its direct connectivity from Delhi to Toronto.

Vikas Swarup, India’s high commissioner to Canada tweeted, “@airindiain returns to Canada! Delighted by announcement made by Hon’ble Minister of Civil Aviation @HardeepSPuri that from September 27 there will be a thrice weekly Amritsar-Delhi-Toronto flight. This is great news as we celebrate the 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak.”

The national carrier will start direct flights from Mumbai to Dehradun and Patna.

Puri’s tweet read, ‘To honour another long pending demand of devotees to provide air connectivity between Guru Nagri & Sri Patna Sahib, I am delighted to announce the commencement of a daily @airindiain flight between Mumbai-Patna-Amritsar from 27th Sept 2019.’

Air India spokesperson Dhananjay Kumar confirmed that the Mumbai-Dehradun flight will start from September 27.

From Sunday, the airline resumed its direct flight from Delhi to Washington. The flight had been temporarily suspended as the airline was running into losses due to the longer route the flight had to take because the Pakistan airspace was closed after Pulwama terror attacks.

“The flight used to take 22 hours to reach Washington as Pakistan airspace was not available. This forced us to shut the flight temporarily. However, it will take 16 hours and 15 minutes for to them land at the destination airport,” said Kumar.

Air India will also have reduced flight time in its Delhi to New York direct flight from mid-July as it was being flown via Vienna.

Later in the evening the minister tweeted that Air India will start Delhi-Chennai-Bali service from October 27 four days a week.