Aditi Sharma

NEW DELHI (Reuters), – American Airlines (NASDAQ) relaunched Indian flights this week. This is almost a decade since they stopped flying to India. The airline wanted to capitalize on the growing need for nonstop travel during the coronavirus pandemic. A senior executive told Reuters.

American Airlines is looking to increase its international reach, as travel demand continues to rise at home. Tom Lattig (managing director EMEA sales) said that India was one of the largest untapped markets for American Airlines.

“The pandemic has made it clear that many customers are keen to travel non-stop. “We know that travel between India, the United States is very popular so we have an opportunity to return right now during the pandemic,” said Lattig in a New Delhi interview.

American Airlines stopped services to India two years ago. They started flights from New Delhi to New York this weekend. The airline will also add flight between Bengaluru (India’s technology city) and Seattle starting March 1.

Lattig stated that if it is successful with these routes, it would add services to India’s financial capital, Mumbai.

He said that the expansion will also be dependent on availability of planes as Boeing is awaiting delivery of large-body aircraft.

Lattig claimed that “there are more opportunities than there actually are aircraft for.”

According to Lattig, the U.S. carrier has already flown 90% of its pre-pandemic capacity and even used widebody aircrafts on certain routes.

The demand for Europe and Britain were also high, especially since the United States had opened its borders to last week. He added that Mexico’s demand exceeded those of 2019 as well.

However, the airline has yet to experience any significant recovery in Asia. It is currently flying at less than 25% pre-pandemic capacity. Lattig also said that part of the problem was the slow pace of vaccines being administered in Asia.

Globally, the majority of demand comes from tourists visiting their family members or leisure. Lattig anticipated that corporate travel would recover by 2019 at the end of 2023. Asia was the least likely region to rebound.

Lattig explained that American Airlines is looking at India to expand its presence and was banking on the service it offers and a four-class cabin in order to be more competitive with competitors like Air India (which was bought by India’s Tata Group) and United Airlines (which both offer direct flights from India to the United States).

This airline will use the partnership it has with JetBlue in America and code share with IndiGo, India’s most popular airline. The goal is to connect travellers across multiple cities.

Lattig declared, “We will be the newcomer. We are going to aggressively establish a place for ourself.”