Opinion
Delta Announces First Nonstop Atlanta-India Flight
Mike Rast Jr. - Reporter
August 7, 2008
Delta Air Lines Inc. has announced it is to open a nonstop flight between Atlanta and Mumbai, India, with a tentative launch date of Nov. 1, 2008.
The airline currently offers one-stop service from Atlanta to the Indian city through New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. Delta made the announcement at a press conference Aug. 7 at the World Trade Center Atlanta.
Narsi Narasimhan, president of the Georgia Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, told GlobalAtlanta the new flight would provide a boost to investment between the regions.
“The Indian community in Atlanta showed great growth in the 1990s. This will mean a lot more travel between Atlanta, the Southeast generally, and India, and the direct flight will certainly be a facilitator for business,” he said.
Jagdish Sheth, the Charles H. Kellstadt chair of marketing at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, said the flight could make Atlanta a gateway for Indian travel throughout the Western Hemisphere.
“Atlanta will benefit enormously with the direct flight because Atlanta becomes the global source for travel into North America and South America,” he said, adding that Indian companies are investing heavily in both continents.
Dr. Sheth, who founded the India, China and America Institute in Decatur, also said the flight could put the Georgia capital on the map for Indian tourists, who often visit California, Florida and New York.
Mumbai, formerly Bombay, is India’s most populous city with 13 million people and is home to many of the country’s financial institutions, including the National Stock Exchange.
Delta has been expanding its international routes since coming out of bankruptcy in April 2007. The airline’s President and CFO, Edward Bastian, announced in March it would continue opening international routes in the face of high fuel costs and an uncertain U.S. economy.
Since then, Delta has opened routes to eight foreign cities from JFK and two from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
