American Airlines has announced one of the the flashiest long routes just weeks before the pandemic hit, and now, nearly three years later, that service may never really take off.
The flight was 8,078 miles long, supposedly connecting Seattle with Bangalore, IndiaOriginally scheduled to start in October 2020.
The super-coronavirus ended the global airline market just weeks after the airline announced the route, and the Americans never went ahead with the Bangalore route. Instead, it repeatedly delayed the service’s opening for months at a time.
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Aviation observers have wondered if Americans will ever end up flying this route, and over time it becomes less and less likely.
As it turns out, the Fort Worth-based carrier just removed the Bangalore service from all future schedules as part of their latest network update. That means you can’t buy a US service ticket to Bangalore at the moment and everyone with an existing reservation will be offered a stay or a refund.
When asked if Americans will ever continue to roll out the Bangalore service, a spokesperson for the airline shared that “we have withdrawn the opening SEA-BLR this weekend as we still hope to fly it at some point in the future.” American does not have a schedule for when it might start flying to Bangalore.
This new India route is said to be powered by West Coast International Union of America with Alaska Airlines.
As part of the agreement, Americans will added new long-haul routes from Seattlewhile Alaska will provide inbound connectivity to boost the feed.
Americans have moved forward with the launch of new non-stop service from Seattle to London in March 2021, but the India service has different speeds.
It is primarily designed for business travelers, some of whom have not yet returned to the pre-pandemic levels of international travel.
Plus, with Russia Invades Ukraine and Close the next airspacedirect flights to Seattle may no longer be commercially viable.
Interestingly, the Bangalore route was supposed to mark the first American foray into India since 2012, but the airline ended up adding a new route in partnership with JetBlue Airways. from New York to Delhilaunched in November 2021 and has since flown daily.
While the American ambitions of Bangalore seem to be on the decline, competitor United Airlines is still planning to fly to the Indian city in the future.
The Chicago-based carrier announced in September 2020 that it will begin fly from central San Francisco to Bangalore. That route has also faced numerous delays and United now expects to begin operating the flight on March 24, 2023.
Whether that happens is anyone’s guess, but it’s certainly possible that United will now follow American’s lead and abandon their Bangalore plans.
