New Delhi, Nov 23 (IANS): Air India on Wednesday announced the strengthening and expansion of its global footprint with the launch of new flights connecting Mumbai with New York, Paris and Frankfurt, and the resumption of non-stop flights connecting Delhi with Copenhagen, Milan and Vienna.

This expansion comes as the airline continues to make progress in augmenting its fleet with newly-leased aircraft, and the return of existing aircraft to active service.

The new Mumbai-New York service will operate daily to John F Kennedy International Airport using B777-200LR aircraft, and will commence from February 14, 2023. It will complement Air India's existing daily service from Delhi to New York area's John F Kennedy International Airport and 4 weekly flights to Newark Liberty airport. This takes Air India's India-US frequency to 47 non-stop flights per week.

To Europe, Air India will add four weekly Delhi-Milan routes starting from February 1, 2023, and thrice-weekly flights on each of Delhi-Vienna and Delhi-Copenhagen, commencing from February 18 and March 1, 2023 respectively. All these flights will be operated by Air India's B787-8 Dreamliner aircraft featuring 18 Business Class and 238 Economy Class seats.

With the resumption of these flights, Air India will serve seven cities in Europe with 79 weekly non-stop flights - 48 to the United Kingdom and 31 to Continental Europe.

Commenting on this expansion, Campbell Wilson, CEO and MD, Air India, said, "A key element of our five-year transformation plan, Vihaan.AI, is to strengthen India's global network, connecting India's major cities with even more destinations. The introduction of these new non-stop flights to New York, Milan, Vienna, Copenhagen, Paris and Frankfurt, is another step in that journey, which will accelerate as our aircraft fleet expands. We look forward to welcoming guests and sharing Air India's warm Indian hospitality with them."