FLYING TO INDIA

India has fairly extensive direct air connections to all the continents except South and Central America where currently no direct flights are available from India. Over 70 international airlines fly presently to India. Air-India, India's national airline, flies to destinations in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Jet Airways, a private Indian airline, flies to regional destinations such as Kathmandu, Bangkok, Colombo, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur in addition to serving long-haul destinations including London, Brussels, New York/Newark and and Toronto. Kingfisher Airlines flies regional and long-haul routes while Spicejet serves South Asian destinations. IndiGo , another Indian low-cost carrier, will launch international air services to Dubai, Singapore and Bangkok from Sep '11.

Above pic: An Air India Boeing 747-400 at London Heathrow. Air India today operates a daily nonstop via the North Pole service to New York from both Delhi and Mumbai. London is served from Delhi, Mumbai, Amritsar and Newark.

The main international gateway airports in India are located at Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai. Other airports having international flights include Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Tiruchirapalli (Trichy), Mangalore, Coimbatore, Kochi (Cochin), Hyderabad and Kozhikode (Calicut) in the southern region, Goa and Ahmedabad in western India, Varanasi, Amritsar, Lucknow, Jaipur and Srinagar in northern India, Nagpur in central India and Patna and Gaya in eastern India. India has signed more flexible and liberal air service agreements with a number of countries such as the , UAE, United States, Japan, UK, Belgium, Germany, Bahrain and Hong Kong to name a few. The result of these new agreements is an increase in the number of flights and new point-to-point connections.

Above pic: One of KLM's (Royal Dutch Airlines) Boeing MD-11 aircraft, Anna Pavlova, parked at Amsterdam Schipol and destined for Delhi. KLM currently uses Boeing 747-400 aircraft on its daily Delhi service.

A SriLankan Airbus A330 widebody arriving from Colombo at Chennai Airport. SriLankan also operates Airbus A340 and A320 aircraft on its rather busy short-haul (2 daily flights) Colombo-Chennai route.

Condor, a German carrier, flies once a week from both Frankfurt and Munich to Dabolim airport (Goa) using Boeing 767 aircraft.
Above pic: A Condor Airbus A320 taxiing at Munich airport

Above pic: Finnair's inaugural flight (Airbus A340) seen here arriving at Mumbai on June 27, 2007. Finnair no longer serves Mumbai.

Finnair, Finland's national airline, flies 6xweekly (daily wef Jan '11) from Helsinki to Delhi with Airbus A330 aircraft. This is the only direct scheduled air routes operating between the Nordic countries and India. Finnair also flies seasonally (Nov-Mar) on a weekly basis from Helsinki-Vantaa to Goa using Boeing 757 aircraft. Ahmedabad airport will be used as a technical/refuelling stop on leisure flights from Helsinki to Goa, Krabi, Langkawi, and Ho Chi Minh City (winter 09/10).

Above pic: A Lufthansa Airbus A321 in retro livery taxiing at Munich airport, Lufthansa's second largest hub after Frankfurt.
Lufthansa flies from Frankfurt to Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune and from Munich to Delhi and Mumbai.

Above pic: A Finnair Boeing MD-11 taxiing at Helsinki-Vantaa airport, which serves the capital region (Helsinki is the second northernmost capital city in the world) of Finland. Finnair currently uses Airbus A330 equipment on its 6xweekly Helsinki-Delhi service. The seat pitch and level of comfort (NVH) in the MD-11 was surprisingly good.

EL AL

Above pic: An EL AL Boeing 737-800 taxiing at Rome Fiumicino airport. El Al operates a thrice weekly nonstop service from Tel Aviv to Mumbai with Boeing 767 equipment.

EgyptAir currently serves Mumbai on a 5xweekly basis from Cairo using Boeing 737 equipment (this video shows an Airbus A320 at Athens Airport). © Timir Mozumder

Air Travel Related Links

Amadeus.net: Airline schedules
Skytrax: Airport and airline user experience comments and reviews
airlinemeals.net: This website features thousands of images of meals served on hundreds of airlines around the world.

International Air Routes to India - Indian Airline Operators

	Air India flies to New York (JFK and Newark), Chicago, Toronto, Washington, D.C. (Dulles) via New York JFK, London (Heathrow), Paris (CDG), Frankfurt, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo and Osaka. Gulf destinations include Dubai, Doha, Jeddah, Riyadh, Damman and Kuwait. Frankfurt has become Air-India European hub for westbound flights to Newark and Chicago.
	Air India's low-cost carrier Air India Express flies to Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Muscat, Salalah, Singapore, KualaLumpur, Bangkok, Bahrain, Doha, Kuwait, Columbo and Dhaka.
	Indian (now being merged with Air India) operates flights to the following regional destinations: Bahrain, Bangkok, Colombo, Doha, Dubai, Kabul, Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, Lahore, Male, Muscat, Sharjah, Singapore and Yangon.
	Jet Airways flies from Abu Dhabi to Delhi (daily) and Mumbai (daily), Dubai to Chennai (daily), Mumbai (2xdaily), Delhi (daily), Hyderabad (daily), Sharjah to Kochi (daily), Bahrain to both Mumbai and Kochi (daily), Hong Kong to Mumbai (daily), Singapore to Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai (all daily), Bangkok to Delhi (daily), Kolkata (5xweekly) and Mumbai (2xdaily), Kathmandu to Delhi (12xweekly) and Mumbai (6xweekly), Milan (daily) from Delhi, Brussels from Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, New York City (JFK), Newark and Toronto (all daily), Kuala Lumpur to Chennai (daily), Colombo to Chennai (daily), Kuwait to Mumbai (daily), Dhaka to Delhi (4xweekly) and Kolkata (daily), London (Heathrow) to Delhi (daily) and Mumbai (2xdaily), Doha to Kochi, Kozhikode and Mumbai (all daily), Muscat to Kochi, Kozhikode, Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram (all daily). New York to Chennai via Brussels (daily), Toronto to Delhi via Brussels (daily) and Newark to Mumbai via Brussels (daily). Jeddah is served daily from Mumbai and Riyadh 4xweekly. Gaya and Varanasi are connected 2xweekly to Bangkok while Delhi is connected daily to Hong Kong and Doha. Mumbai is served daily from Johannesburg.
	JetLite, a Jet Airways owned low-cost operator, flies daily from Delhi to Kathmandu and from Chennai to Colombo.
	Kingfisher Airlines flies daily from Mumbai to London (Heathrow). Regional services include a daily flights from Chennai to Colombo, Kolkata to Dhaka and Delhi to Kathmandu. Other air routes include a daily Bangalore to Dubai and Kolkata to Bangkok service. Mumbai is connected daily to both Hong Kong and Singapore.
	SpiceJet flies 6xweekly from Delhi to Kathmandu and daily from Chennai to Colombo.

International Air Routes to India - Overseas Airline Operators

From North America
	American operates a 6xweekly nonstop service from Chicago O'Hare to Delhi. At 14h 45min (scheduled time for the eastbound flight), this is American's longest nonstop flight covering a distance of 7,477 miles.
	Continental flies daily from Newark to Delhi and 5xweekly to Mumbai. These nonstop services to Delhi and Mumbai are among Continental's longest nonstop flight routes at 7,323 and 7,806 miles respectively.
	Northwest flies daily from Detroit via Amsterdam to Mumbai.

From Europe
	Aeroflot flies daily from Moscow (Sheremetyevo) to Delhi. Goa is also served from Moscow Sheremetyevo during the winter season.
	Air France flies from Paris CDG to Delhi (daily), Mumbai (daily) and Bangalore (6xweekly).
Akal Air	Akal Air operates a twice weekly air service between Birmingham (UK) and Amritsar.
	Austrian flies 5xweekly from Vienna to Delhi.
	British Airways flies from London to Bangalore (daily), Chennai (5xweekly), Delhi (2xdaily), Mumbai (2xdaily) and Hyderabad (5xweekly).
	Finnair flies 6xweekly (daily wef Jan '11) between Helsinki and Delhi.
	KLM flies daily from Amsterdam to Delhi.
	Lufthansa flies 6xweekly from Frankfurt to Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, 3xweekly to Hyderabad and 3xweekly to Kolkata (Lufthansa's first Indian destination launched in 1959). Lufthansa also offers daily flights between Munich and Delhi and 5xweekly between Munich and Mumbai. The Munich-Mumbai route is operated by PrivatAir Boeing 737 all-business class aircraft. Pune is served 6xweekly from Frankfurt with a specially configured 56 seater Boeing 737-800 aircraft.
	Swiss International flies 5xweekly from Zurich to both Mumbai and Delhi.
	Transaero Airlines flies once a week from Moscow (Domodedovo) to Amritsar and seasonally (1xweekly) to Goa.
	Virgin Atlantic flies daily from London to Delhi.

From CIS Countries
	Aerosvit Airlines flies 2xweekly from Kiev to Delhi.
	Air Astana flies 3xweekly from Almaty International Airport, Almaty to Delhi.
	Armavia, the national carrier of Armenia, flies 1xweekly from Yerevan to Delhi.
	Turkmenistan flies 3xweekly from Ashgabat to Amritsar and 2xweekly to Delhi.
	Uzbekistan Airways serves Delhi 3xweekly and Amritsar 3xweekly from Tashkent. Two of these flights are combined services to both Amritsar and Delhi.

From Central and West Asia
	Air Arabia flies 2xdaily from Sharjah to both Kochi and Mumbai, daily to Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kozhikode, Jaipur and Chennai, 2xdaily to Thiruvananthapuram, 3xweekly to Nagpur and 5xweekly to both Coimbatore and Goa.
	Ariana Afghan Airlines operates 2xweekly flights from Kabul to Delhi.
	This low-cost Bahrain based airline flies 6xweekly from Bahrain to Mumbai and 4xweekly to both Kochi and Kozhikode.
	El Al flies 3xweekly from Tel Aviv to Mumbai.
	Emirates flies 19xweekly from Dubai to Chennai, 32xweekly to Delhi, 3xdaily to Hyderabad, 2xdaily to Kochi, 42xweekly to Mumbai, 8xweekly to Thiruvananthapuram, 12xweekly to Kolkata, 20xweekly to Bangalore, 8xweekly to Ahmedabad and 6xweekly to Kozhikode. Emirates currently operates over 170 flights (more than any other overseas airline) between Dubai and 10 destinations in India.
	Etihad flies from Abu Dhabi to Bangalore (4xweekly), Chennai (daily), Mumbai (daily), Delhi (daily), Thiruvananthapuram (daily), Hyderabad (daily), Kochi (daily) and Kozhikode (4xweekly).
	Flydubai, a low-cost carrier based in Dubai, offers a 3xweekly direct service from Dubai to Lucknow.
	Gulf Air flies from Bahrain to Chennai (daily), Delhi (daily), Kochi (daily), Mumbai (2xdaily) and Thiruvananthapuram (daily).
	Iran Air flies 2xweekly from Tehran to Mumbai.
	Jazeera Airways, a low cost carrier based in Kuwait, flies from Kuwait to Mumbai (6xweekly), Delhi (3xweekly) and Kochi (3xweekly).
	Kam Air, a private Afghan airline, operates a 3xweekly service from Kabul to Delhi.
	Kuwait Airways flies from Kuwait to Mumbai (daily), Kochi (3xweekly), Chennai (4xweekly), Thiruvananthapuram (3xweekly), Delhi (4xweekly) and Ahmedabad (3xweekly).
	Mahan Air flies from Tehran to Delhi and Amritsar (3xweekly).
	Oman Air flies 5xweekly from Muscat to Bangalore, daily to Chennai, 6xweekly to Delhi, daily to Hyderabad, daily to Kochi, daily to Kozhikode, 2xdaily to Mumbai, daily to Thiruvananthapuram, 6xweekly to Lucknow and 6xweekly to Jaipur.
	Pamir Airways operates a daily service from Kabul to Delhi.
	Qatar Airways flies daily from Doha to Ahmedabad, Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram, 5xweekly to both Hyderabad and Kochi, daily to Kozhikode, 4xweekly to Amritsar, 4xweekly to Goa and daily to Bangalore wef Feb 22.
	RAK Airways, a Ras Al Khaimah (UAE) based airline, operates a 5xweekly service between Ras Al Khaimah and Kozhikode.
	Royal Jordanian flies from Amman 4xweekly to Delhi and 2xweekly Mumbai.
	Saudi Arabian Airlines serves India as follows: Riyadh via Damman to Chennai (1xweekly), Jeddah via Riyadh to Chennai (2xweekly), Riyadh to Chennai (1xweekly), Almadinah via Riyadh to Delhi (1xweekly), Jeddah via Damman to Delhi (1xweekly), Jeddah via Riyadh to Delhi (2xweekly), Riyadh via Damman to Delhi (1xweekly), Riyadh to Delhi (1xweekly), Riyadh via Jeddah to Hyderabad (1xweekly), Riyadh to Hyderabad (1xweekly), Jeddah to Hyderabad (1xweekly), Jeddah via Damman to Kochi (1xweekly), Riyadh to Kochi (2xweekly), Almadinah via Riyadh to Mumbai (1xweekly), Jeddah via Damman to Mumbai (2xweekly), Jeddah via Riyadh to Mumbai (2xweekly), Riyadh to Mumbai (4xweekly), Jeddah via Riyadh to Bengaluru (2xweekly), Jeddah to Kozhikode (2xweekly) and Jeddah via Riyadh to Kozhikode (2xweekly).
	Turkish Airlines flies daily from Istanbul to both Delhi and Mumbai.
	Yemenia flies 4xweekly from Sana'a to Mumbai with 1xweekly return flight flying via Aden to Sana'a (3xweekly nonstop).

From Africa
	Air Mauritius flies from Mauritius to Bangalore (1xweekly), Chennai (1xweekly), Delhi (1xweekly; 2xweekly wef Mar 27) and Mumbai (4weekly).
	Egypt Air flies 5xweekly from from Cairo to Mumbai.
	Ethiopian Airlines flies daily from Addis Ababa to Mumbai and daily to Delhi and onwards to Beijing.
	Kenya Airways flies daily from Nairobi to Mumbai.
	South African Airways flies 5xweekly from Johannesburg to Mumbai.

From South Asia
	Biman Bangladesh Airlines flies daily from Dhaka to Kolkata and 4xweekly to Delhi.
	Kathmandu based Buddha Air has announced a 3xweekly service from Kathmandu to Lucknow wef Jan 7 '11.
	Druk Air (Royal Bhutan Airlines), Bhutan's national airline, flies 3xweekly from Paro to Delhi, 5xweekly to Kolkata and 2xweekly to Bagdogra and onwards to Bangkok and back.
	GMG Airlines flies 2xdaily from Dhaka to Kolkata, 4xweekly from Chittagong to Kolkata and 3xweekly from to Delhi (extending to Dubai) to Dhaka.
Maldivian	Maldivian flies upto 3xdaily from Malé International Airport to Thiruvanathapuram.
	Mihin Lanka flies 4xweekly from Colombo to Tiruchirapalli, 3xweekly to Thiruvananthapuram and once a week to Gaya.
	Pakistan International Airlines operates 2xweekly flights from Karachi to Mumbai, 1xweekly to Delhi and 2xweekly from Lahore to Delhi.
	Nepal Airlines flies daily from Kathmandu to Delhi.
	SriLankan Airlines flies from Colombo to Bangalore (5xweekly), Chennai (14xweekly), Delhi (daily), Kochi (daily wef Mar 1 '11), Mumbai (daily), Tiruchirapalli (daily) and Thiruvananthapuram (daily).
	United Airways, a private Bangladesh based airline, flies 11xweekly from Dhaka with Kolkata and 4xweekly from Chittagong to Kolkata.

From the Far East, Southeast Asia and Australasia
	Air Asia flies 10xweekly from Kuala Lumpur to Tiruchirapalli and daily to Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi, 3xweekly toThiruvananthapuram and Kolkata, 4xweekly to Mumbai and Hyderabad (cancelled wef Jan 11 '11). Chennai is also served from Penang with a 4xweekly air service and daily from Kuala Lumpur (11xweekly wef Jan 21 '11). AirAsiaX flies from KL to Delhi on a daily basis.
	Air China flies 4xweekly from Beijing to Delhi and 2xweekly from Shanghai via Chengdu to Bangalore (wef Feb 27).
	All Nippon Airways (ANA) operates a daily nonstop service from Tokyo's Narita airport to Mumbai using 38/44 seater (single/two class) BusinessJet (Boeing 737-700ER) equipment. The inbound flight from Tokyo to Mumbai has a refuelling stop at Nagasaki.
	Asiana Airlines flies 3xweekly from Seoul's Incheon International airport to Delhi.
	Cathay Pacific flies 2xdaily from Hong Kong to Delhi (incl. 1xdaily via Bangkok), 10xweekly to Mumbai (incl. 3xweekly via Bangkok), daily from Mumbai to Dubai (discontd. wef Mar 28) and 4xweekly from Hong Kong to Chennai.
	China Airlines flies 3xweekly from Taipei to Delhi (3xweekly to Rome).
	China Eastern flies 3xweekly from Shanghai to Delhi and daily from Kunming, the capital of China's Yunnan province, to Kolkata.
	China Southern, China's largest airline, flies 4xweekly from to Guangzhou (Canton) to Delhi.
	Dragonair (part of the Cathay Pacific Group) flies daily from Hong Kong to Bangalore.
	Japan Airlines flies 3xweekly from Tokyo to Delhi.
	Korean Air flies thrice weekly from Seoul/Incheon airport to Mumbai.
	Malaysia Airlines flies from Kuala Lumpur to Bangalore (5xweekly), Chennai (daily), Delhi (10xweekly), Hyderabad (3xweekly) and Mumbai (daily).
	Philippine Airlines has announced the commencement of a direct 6xweekly (3 nonstop and 3 via Bangkok) air service between Manila and Delhi wef Mar 28 '11.
	Qantas operates a 3xweekly service from Brisbane via Singapore to Mumbai.
	Silk Air flies from Singapore to Thiruvananthapuram (3xweekly), Kochi (daily), Hyderabad (5xweekly) and 3xweekly to Coimbatore.
	Singapore Airlines flies 3xweekly from Singapore to Ahmedabad, daily to Bangalore, Chennai, 11xweekly to Delhi, 4xweekly to Kolkata and 11xweekly to Mumbai.
	Thai Airways flies from Bangkok to Bangalore (daily), Kolkata (daily), Chennai (daily) and onwards to Dubai and vv. (4xweekly), Delhi (10xweekly), Mumbai (11xweekly), Hyderabad (5xweekly) and 5xweekly to Varanasi via Gaya.
	Tiger Airways flies from Singapore to Bangalore (4xweekly) and Chennai (11xweekly). Tiruchirapalli will be served 4xweekly wef Nov '10.

Leisure/seasonal flight operators
Edelweiss Air	Edelweiss Air flies once weekly from Zurich to Goa and onwards to Male.
Air Italy Polska	Air Italy Polska operates charter flights from Warsaw to Goa and onwards to Colombo.
	Ekaterinburg based Ural Airlines flies twice weekly bewteen Ekaterinburg and Goa with a technical stop in Tashkent.
Primera Air	Primera Air operates seasonal charter flights from Stockholm to Thiruvananthapuram.
	Condor operates two weekly seasonal flights (Nov-Apr) from Frankfurt to Goa via Dubai.
	Belair operates weekly seasonal flights from Zurich to Goa via Male.
	Thomsonfly operates weekly seasonal charter flights from Birmingham (UK), 1-2xweekly flights from London Gatwick and 1-2xweekly flight from Manchester, UK to Goa.
	Riga-based Smartlynx Airlines operates seasonal charter flights from Tallinn (Estonia) to Goa.
	Kras Air operates seasonal charter flights from Moscow to Goa every ten days.
	Novair operates seasonal charter flights from Oslo, Stockholm, Norrköping and Gothenburg via Baku to Goa.
	MyTravel (Thomson Cook) flies from Stockholm to Goa.
	MyTravel (Thomson Cook) operates 1xweekly seasonal charter flights from Copenhagen to Goa via Sharjah.
	Monarch operates seasonal charter flights from London Gatwick and Manchester, UK(3xweekly) to Goa. Monarch also operates a 2xweekly service (on behalf of Bilga Air) to Amritsar.
	First Choice operates seasonal flights from London Gatwick to Goa, 1xweekly from Manchester (UK) to Goa, 1xweekly from East Midlands Airport, 1xweekly from London Gatwick to Thiruvananthapuram.
	Flyjet offers charter flights between London Gatwick/Birmingham and Amritsar
	Finnair operates seasonal leisure flights from Helsinki to Goa via Ahmedabad.
	MyTravel (Thomas Cook) operates seasonal flights from London Gatwick, Birmingham (UK) and Manchester, UK (2xweekly) to Goa and 1xweekly from London Gatwick to Thiruvananthapuram.