Amid Massive Student Rush, Air India To Double Number Of Flights To US: All You Need To Know

In a major relief to a large number of students headed to US from India for higher studies, Air India has announced that it will increase its flight frequency to the country from August first week.

Move as students flagged it on social media

The welcome move comes against the backdrop of several students flagging on social media the rescheduling of their Air India flights to the US, allegedly without prior notice.

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Air India told NDTV, "With the recent surge in COVID cases and the US Presidential Proclamation restricting flights from India, some of our flights to the USA, including those between Mumbai and Newark, had to be cancelled. These were effected well in advance and passengers were kept aware of these cancellations which were for reasons beyond our control."

From 11 to 22 flights per week

Speaking about its plans to step up the flight frequency to the US, it said, "Vis-a-vis the approximate 40 flights we used to operate to the USA before the Presidential proclamation, we could operate 11 flights per week to USA in July, 2021. The frequency is being increased to 22 from 7th August, 2021. With the frequency being enhanced on the US sector, all-out efforts are being made to accommodate as many passengers as possible in our US-bound flights from August."

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Travel restrictions imposed by the United States, in addition to a curb on Indian travellers to the UAE, had led to a situation where students travelling to the US found themselves with significantly fewer travel options and inflated ticket prices. India and China are the top two countries from where student visas are issued for the US.

Dates, carriers of additional flights

In a tweet, the flag carrier said: ¡°Air India will operate additional flights between New Delhi & Newark on 6th, 13th, 20th & 27th August ¡®21. These are in addition to the existing flights operating on this sector¡±.

In addition to Air India, American carriers United and Delta also fly between the two nations. In the US, Air India operates flights to New York (John F Kennedy), Newark, Chicago, Washington and San Francisco. Following the US travel ban order, Air India had to cancel several of its flights.

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¡°Because of the curtailed schedule, we had to reschedule the passengers in a staggered manner leading to some passengers getting reschedules that were almost a month after their original flight,¡± the Air India official said, adding that the situation is expected to be better in August.

All students may not be able to join

Sector trackers, however, pointed out that not all students may be able to join the fall semester on time due to the curtailed flight schedules.

While the US government is allowing students to enter the country 30 days prior to the start of their studies, there is a shortage of flights to the country, which has led to a decline in seats and rise in ticket prices,¡± EaseMyTrip CEO Nishant Pitti told The Indian Express.

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¡°In fact, we are expecting an unprecedented surge of students travelling in the second half of this year as many of them have deferred their courses and study plans by a year,¡± he said.