The news spread like wildfire that Air India is planning new non-stop routes to Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Internal sources suggest that Air India is aggressively working to launch these services this year.
While the Desi Indian community is jubilant, Asia91 conducted a survey, primarily through invite-only participation, to gauge their reactions.
This is what the Desi Indian community is saying about Air India's non-stop flights to Dallas, Los Angeles, and Seattle.
"It's a great decision, but most travel to Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Bangalore. I'm curious how it's different from going through a Middle East stopover versus a Delhi stopover."
"I live in a small town closer to Chennai Airport. Rather than going to Delhi and then taking a domestic flight, I would prefer Qatar or Emirates to go via Dubai or Doha to Chennai."
"New India is shining, and as TATA took over the airline, we need to support our country. Aren't you selfish if you don't give it a try?"
"I haven't decided yet to use Air India because of its previous horrible reviews, but considering TATA's involvement, I will give it multiple tries."
"The word India itself makes me feel proud. I will use Air India and diligently provide them with reviews and issues that must be fixed. Trust me, Air India will win this time as India is winning. Jai Shri Ram."
"Bad idea when most traffic is from DFW to Southern India. Delhi has horrible connections between international and domestic flights. Those flying to Southern India will continue flying Emirates or others, or folks like me will fly to London and then to MAA. Air India makes bad decisions and wants to funnel people through Delhi, known for bad service."
"Most Air India flights from the USA land in Delhi or Mumbai. For folks flying to other airports in India, the Gulf airlines are more convenient."
"Nice news! If only Mumbai could get more flights due to its geographic location facilitating better connectivity generally."
"I'm surprised that DFW would be picked over Atlanta, which probably has about 20 to 25% more traffic in terms of passengers to India and doesn't have to compete with Emirates not serving that city."
"At first, I was bummed about AI planning flights to DFW (me being in Houston), but since these new planned routes are flying to DEL and not everyone's final destination is DEL, DFW can have AI and enjoy it! I don't see this route lasting long, as not many folks like flying into DEL or BOM and dealing with connecting flights."
"Air India will bring lots of deals and discounts along with competitive tickets. I'll use them if they have cheap tickets. Wait, I'll use whoever has cheap tickets because there's not much difference in economy, lol."
"Choosing DFW over Atlanta and Houston shows that maybe there are a lot of TCS engineers in DFW, and the TATA group is thinking strategically."
What do you think?