First non stop flight linking Mumbai-NY on Aug 1

Mumbai, July 11: The much-talked first non-stop flight linkingIndia's financial capital Mumbai to New York will take off on August 1at 0045 hrs and will land at JFK New York, after a 15-hour flight, at0710 hrs.

''We will get the delivery of Boeing 777-200 LR on July 25 and 26respectively at Seatle followed by the third Boeing 777-200 ER in thefirst week of August,'' said Air India Executive Director (Finance PR)S Venkat who is also the company secretary of merged Air India.

There will be a non-stop flight between Mumbai-New york and NewDelhi-New York and a big event launch will be organised on the occasionin both the cities.

Mr Venkat said the 15-hour non-stop journey from Mumbai to NewYork will commence at 0045 hrs on August 1 and will land at JFK NewYork at 0710 on the same day. The return flight will start at 2130 hrson August 1 and reach Mumbai at 2215 hrs.

''As the plane will land in the morning hours at JFK, we willprovide all facilities to help first and business class passengers tofreshen up at JFK itself,'' Mr Venkat added.

The 777-200 LR flight consists of eight first class, 35 business class and 195 economy class seats totalling 238 seats.

Providing details of luxury that Air India is going to offer toall the three classes without charging extra, Mr Venkat said the seatpitch in business class will be 80-inch while for bed 31-inch.

The business class seat pitch will be of 76-inch and 26.5-inch wide.

The economy class seat will be 18-inch wide with a six-inch recline.

Mr Venkat said there will be LCD of 23 inch in Ist class and of 15.4 inch in business class while 10.6 inch in economy class.

UNI