Amid students' rush, Air India to increase flight frequency to US from August

The welcome move comes as several students are voicing out on social media about the rescheduling of their Air India flights to the US allegedly without prior notice.

Responding to an NDTV query on the issue, Air India stated, "With the recent surge in COVID cases and the US Presidential Proclamation restricting flights from India, some of our flights to the USA, including those between Mumbai and Newark, had to be cancelled. These were effected well in advance and passengers were kept aware of these cancellations which were for reasons beyond our control."

Speaking about its plans to step up the flight frequency to the US, it said, "Vis-a-vis the approximate 40 flights we used to operate to the USA before the Presidential proclamation, we could operate 11 flights per week to USA in July, 2021."

"The frequency is being increased to 22 from 7th August, 2021. With the frequency being enhanced on the US sector, all-out efforts are being made to accommodate as many passengers as possible in our US-bound flights from August," the airline added.

Meanwhile, Air India has also tweeted that it will operate additional flights between New Delhi and Newark on August 6, 13, 20 and 27.

"These are in addition to the existing flights operating on this sector," it said.