American Airlines to end flying service to India

American Airlines declared that the Chicago O'Hare-New Delhi service is being cancelled due to the “historical financial performance of the route and its future outlook given the global economic climate and high oil prices.”

American Airlines said it would end direct flights to India. The airline’s 15-hour flight service from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport to New Delhi will end on 28 February. Instead, American Airlines will offer flights to India through its partner airlines.

American Airlines daily New Delhi-Chicago O’Hare service was launched in November 2005 after the US and India signed an Open Skies Agreement.The financially troubled carrier headquartered in Fort Worth stated that the Chicago O’Hare-New Delhi service is being cancelled due to the “historical financial performance of the route and its future outlook given the global economic climate and high oil prices.” The airline also announced on Monday that it planned to lay off 150 workers in the company.

Air India is also bleeding on the Chicago-New Delhi route (although all of its international routes are loss-making) with a loss of $62.9 million on the operations in 2009-10. The recent Comptroller and Auditor-General’s report, noted that the India-US route “was the single biggest factor adversely affecting Air India’s operations”, accounting for 41 percent of total losses.