Air India plans to start more ultra long haul flights, mainly to the US cities, as it expands the aircraft fleet with more A350s and B777s, according to sources.

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The Tata Group-owned airline, which is also in the process of consolidating its operations, including by the proposed merger of Vistara, is looking to launch direct flights from Indian cities to Seattle, Los Angeles and Dallas, the sources in the know said.

Currently, Air India is the sole Indian airline operating services to the US with flights to Washington, New York, Newark, San Francisco and Chicago. The sources told PTI that Air India is planning to start flights to Seattle, Los Angeles and Dallas during the winter schedule of 2024-25.

While A350 is likely to be deployed for services to Seattle, B777 might be operated for flights to Los Angeles and Dallas. These will be ultra long haul flights, which generally means that the duration is over 16 hours. Air India spokesperson did not offer any comments on the plans.

Besides flights to the US cities, Air India is mulling all B777 operations to London Heathrow from both Delhi and Mumbai, once it inducts two more of such planes in its fleet. At present, the flights to London are operated with B787 from Delhi and Mumbai.

According to the sources, the airline will commence flights to London Gatwick from Bengaluru next month with a Boeing Dreamliner.

An airline official said that while launching flights to new destinations is always on the radar, it is also subject to various factors, including availability of pilots and crew. Last year, Air India placed orders for 470 planes with Airbus and Boeing.