American Airways introduced one among its flashiest long-haul routes simply weeks earlier than the pandemic hit, and now, practically three years later, that service might by no means truly take off.
The 8,078-mile flight, which was supposed to attach Seattle with Bangalore, India, was initially scheduled to start in October 2020.
The coronavirus ended up grounding the worldwide aviation market simply weeks after the airline’s splashy route announcement, and American by no means moved ahead with launching the Bangalore route. As an alternative, it stored delaying the inaugural service for months at a time.
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Aviation observers have puzzled if American would ever find yourself flying the route, and, as time goes on, it seems much less and fewer seemingly that it will come to fruition.
Seems, the Fort Price-based service simply eliminated the Bangalore service from all future schedules as a part of its newest community replace. Which means you can not buy a ticket for American service to Bangalore for the time being, and everybody with present reservations will probably be supplied re-accommodation or a refund.
When requested if American will ever transfer ahead with launching Bangalore service, a service spokesperson shared that “we pulled SEA-BLR to open this weekend as we’re nonetheless hoping to fly it someday sooner or later.” American doesn’t have a timeline for when it’d begin flying to Bangalore.
This new India route was imagined to be supported by American’s West Coast worldwide alliance with Alaska Airways.
As a part of the pact, American would add new long-haul routes from Seattle, whereas Alaska would offer home connectivity to spice up the feed.
American already transfer ahead with launching new nonstop service from Seattle to London in March 2021, however the India route has fared otherwise.
It was largely designed for enterprise vacationers, a few of which haven’t returned to pre-pandemic ranges of worldwide journey.
Plus, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the next airspace closures, the nonstop to Seattle might now not be commercially possible.
Apparently, the Bangalore route was imagined to mark American’s first foray in India since 2012, however the service ended up including a brand new route in partnership with JetBlue Airways from New York to Delhi, which launched in November 2021 and has since been flying each day.
Whereas American’s Bangalore ambitions appear to be receding, competitor United Airways continues to be planning to fly to this Indian metropolis within the coming future.
The Chicago-based service introduced in September 2020 that it could begin flying from its San Francisco hub to Bangalore. That route has additionally confronted a number of delays, and United is at present scheduled to start working the flight on March 24, 2023.
Whether or not that occurs is anybody’s guess, however it’s actually attainable that United will now comply with American’s lead and drops its Bangalore plans, too.
