Delta will begin flying to Mumbai next year, marking its
return to India after a four-year hiatus.
The move, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said, is being enabled by
recent agreements the U.S. entered into with the governments of the United Arab
Emirates and Qatar related to the practices of Gulf airlines Emirates, Etihad
and Qatar Airways.
"We are thankful to the president for taking real
action to enforce our open skies trade deals, which made this new service
possible," Bastian said.
Delta last flew to India in 2015 in a one-stop route that
went from New York Kennedy to Amsterdam and on to Mumbai, but cut the service
blaming increasing competition from connecting services offered by the Gulf
carriers.
Delta, along with United and American, accused the Gulf
carriers of violating aviation agreements by accepting more than $50 billion in
state subsidies since 2004.
Delta didn't say whether its renewed Mumbai service would
launch from Kennedy or from its Atlanta hub, nor did the carrier reveal whether
the route would again include a stopover. Delta also has not announced a start
date.
When it does resume flying to Mumbai, Delta will join United
as the only U.S. carriers to serve the Asian subcontinent. United flies from
its Newark hub to Mumbai and Delhi. Air India also flies a handful of
India-U.S. routes.
Agreements reached between the U.S and the UAE this month
and the U.S. and Qatar in January require Etihad and Qatar Airways to begin
producing annual financial reports, audited to internationally accepted
standards. Emirates already produces such reports.