Air India to connect Mumbai with New York

India's national carrier Air India is set to start flight services from Mumbai to New York from October. It will also resume services to Frankfurt, which was discontinued in 2010, reported news agency Press Trust of India (PTI).

At present, the government-run airline flies to New York, Washington, San Francisco from New Delhi; Chicago from Hyderabad through New Delhi and to Newark from Mumbai. The European cities that Air India touches include Stockholm, Madrid, Vienna, Paris, London, Rome, Birmingham and Milan.

"Air India is set to spread its wings further in the US and European skies from the coming winters," a source told PTI. "As part of this, it will launch flight services for the first time to New York from Mumbai and restart operations to Frankfurt in Germany."

An Air India spokesperson confirmed the proposed roll-out of the two new international flights from winter, saying: "The two new flights are a part of our winter schedule. We have all regulatory approvals in place for the Frankfurt flight and the same for JFK services are being processed."

Air India is the only domestic carrier which flies to destinations in the US directly.

Meanwhile, a senior government official recently said that the disinvestment of loss-making Air India will not happen in "near future".

In June, the government decided not to go ahead with its decision to sell a 76 per cent stake in the national carrier after it failed to receive even a single bid till May 31, the last date for interested parties to submit an expression of interest for the airline.