American Airline to offer new flight to india why?

American Airlines will become the first airline to offer nonstop flights between the U.S  and Bangalore, India, in October, from an unlikely departure city.

American is adding daily service to the technology center in South India, not from Dallas, Chicago or one of its other major centers, but from Seattle, where it has a small presence.

Its all part of an expanded partnership with Alaska Airlines announced on Thursday, where airlines will feed each other passengers and offer travelers frequent flyer benefits to attract more passengers. Bangalore is not the only new international flight planned from Seattle. American said it will offer a nonstop service to London Heathrow from March 2021.

Alaska, a domestic airline mostly with a loyal following in California and the Pacific Northwest, is based in Seattle. He has been fighting his American rival Delta Air Lines at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport since Delta established a center there in 2014 and has aggressively added flights. Delta now considers Seattle to be its main gateway from the west coast to Asia, with nonstop flights to Japan, Korea and China, but none to India.

American's 16-hour and 20-minute flight from Seattle to Bangalore Kempegowda International Airport will be the first nonstop flight from Seattle to India and will mark American's return to the Asian nation after almost a decade.

The airline finalized flights between Chicago and New Delhi in 2012. It will be the second longest American flight behind Dallas-Hong Kong at 5 pm, the airline said. Tickets go on sale at the end of February.

Seattle will be American's first international gateway in the United States outside its centers, and the expanded partnership reverses American's previous decision to end key parts of its partnership with Alaska starting next month.

"This will be a surprise to the world," Vasu Raja, senior vice president of US network strategy, said in an interview. "I'm not sure anyone has done something like that."

Why Bangalore instead of other destinations in India, such as New Delhi and Mumbai, that some of American's competitors already serve from other US airports. UU.?

Raja said Bangalore is the number 1 destination that the main corporate clients of the Dallas-based airline have been requesting for more than two years. Big tech companies like Dell and Texas Instruments and other big companies have a presence there, he said.

Seattle is the best option for American to serve the country for two reasons, he said. First, the American Boeing 787 can make the trip from Seattle, unlike their Dallas and Chicago connection centers, so passengers in places like Austin, Texas and other American cities will now have comprehensive service to India. American has an international gateway at Los Angeles International Airport, but it focuses more on local passengers. American hopes to attract a mix of local and connecting traffic in Seattle with Alaska, which has more than 350 daily flights from the city.