Delta To Restart Indian Flights After Subsidies Deal

Delta Air Lines has announced a return to India, with direct US/Mumbai flights starting next year, after a recent clarification of Open Skies agreements.

The Atlanta-based carrier said it is now in a position to relaunch flights to India after the United States, United Arab Emirates and Qatar came to an agreement on “the issue of government subsidies provided to state-owned carriers in those nations.”

Delta said it had been forced to exit the Indian market after “subsidised state-owned airlines made service economically unviable.”

“It is exciting to be able to announce Delta's return to India from the US as part of our vision to expand Delta's reach internationally,” the airline’s chief executive Ed Bastian said.

“We are thankful to the president for taking real action to enforce our Open Skies trade deals, which made this new service possible.”

The US, and the UAE and Qatar governments have agreed to settle claims by US airlines that Middle East carriers Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways received unfair subsidies from their governments. The three airlines said they have no current plans to add more fifth-freedom flights, a class of flights that US carriers particularly objected to.

As part of the new service, Delta will expand its codeshare agreement with Jet Airways on domestic Indian services.

Details of the new service are yet to be announced. The service is subject to government approval.