It went from zero to 60, just like that. If you wanted to fly to India right now, non-stop, you'd be out of luck unless you lived in New York City, where United offers a flight to New Delhi and another to Mumbai. Not for much longer. Delta announced today that it will be restarting its non-stop New York to Mumbai route next year, giving us more options. And more options usually lead to some friendly competition (did someone say fare war?), which often leads to the occasional flight deal for you and me.
The new route is subject to government approval and the schedule of when and how often the New York City to Mumbai route will run hasn't be released yet, but Delta says it expects to start up again in 2019. The airline used to fly non-stop to Mumbai and other Indian cities until 2015, when, citing unfair competition from Middle Eastern airlines like Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways, it ceased doing so. Last week, U.S. airlines got to see behind the curtain and into the finances of Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways, which U.S. airlines said were so heavily subsidized by their governments they got an unfair advantage in large markets like India.
Delta credits that Open Skies agreement between the U.S. and governments in Qatar and UAE specifically for the new India route. "It is exciting to be able to announce Delta's return to India from the U.S. as part of our vision to expand Delta's reach internationally. We are thankful to the president for taking real action to enforce our Open Skies trade deals, which made this new service possible," said Delta CEO Ed Bastian in a statement.
For the next year, Delta will continue to offer flights to India through SkyTeam codeshares. (American also only offers flights to the country through Oneworld codeshares.) When it restarts its Mumbai service, the airline will also offer connecting flights beyond Mumbai with its partner, Jet Airways. But, when it enters Indian airspace, it will be far from the only newcomer. Budget airline Wow Air just announced one-stop flights from the U.S. to Delhi, which start as low as $400 round-trip.