Seattle-Bengaluru flight delayed

The pandemic caused American’s growth out of Seattle to be halted. The Seattle to Bengaluru flight was initially supposed to start in October 2020

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American Airlines’ flight to India’s Silicon City has been delayed. In fact, American had announced plans to fly from Seattle to Bengaluru, London, and Shanghai. The three routes were scheduled to launch in 2021.

The pandemic caused American’s growth out of Seattle to be halted. The Seattle to Bengaluru flight was initially supposed to start in October 2020. But it was postponed till October 2021, then moved to November 2021. The date was pushed again to January 2022 and moved forward to March 2022. And, now, it has been pushed indefinitely.

In a company memo, the airline mentioned that the Seattle to Bengaluru flight would be delayed even further. However, the carrier has not removed the flight from its schedule – yet. The official explanation is the delay of Boeing 787 deliveries, though the reality is that if the route made sense or were forecasted to be profitable, American would move forward with the route. That’s especially true when you consider the airline announced an all new route from New York to Doha.

With Amazon and Microsoft in Seattle, American hopes to get the numbers from Bengaluru. But the manner in which international business travel is recovering, it could take quite some time to see 2019 passenger volumes for routes like the Seattle- Bengaluru one

The Bengaluru service was departing Seattle at 5:55 pm and arriving at Bengaluru at 11:05 pm (+1 day) and the return from Bengaluru was taking off at 1:45 am and arriving 6:00 am. The flight was covering a distance of 8,112 miles. American planned to use a Boeing 787-9 for the route, featuring 30 business class seats, 21 premium economy seats, and 234 economy seats.

Why is American’s delaying the flight? Pre-pandemic, the demand between Bengaluru and the United States was: San Francisco had 17.7% of the traffic (the most of any US city), accounting for over 200 travelers per day while Seattle had 4.3% of the traffic, accounting for roughly 50 passengers per day. American hopes to cash in on the connecting traffic and also hoped to get passengers from San Francisco. But United, meanwhile, announced the San Francisco-Bengaluru flights.

With Amazon and Microsoft in Seattle, American hopes to get the numbers from Bengaluru. But the manner in which international business travel is recovering, it could take quite some time to see 2019 passenger volumes for routes like the Seattle- Bengaluru one.

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