500 seats/day vanish on India-US route as airline suspends flights
MUMBAI: Passengers travelling to the US this month have been caught in the cross hairs of the Russian war against Ukraine that has led to airspace closures and no-fly zones. With United Airlines indefinitely suspending its flights from Mumbai and Delhi to Newark and San Francisco respectively, about 500 seats/day on the India-US route have suddenly vanished from the market. For passengers bound for the US the only option are flights that have a transit halt in a third country, which means longer journey time and the cheapest one-way ticket priced well over Rs 70,000.
“For travel in the next two weeks, there are hardly any tickets available for direct flights from India to the US,” said an official from the travel industry, requesting anonymity. “Under the current bubble arrangement norms, passengers from India can be flown only point to point with no transit halt in a third country. But with hardly any seats available on direct flights, passengers have been booking seats on flights that do a stop-over between India and the US,” he added.
