Air India drops Mumbai-New York non-stop flight fare

Air India (AI) has dropped its fares substantially for all classes of its non-stop Mumbai-New York flight, within the first week of launching the service. Lower fares offered by airlines like Delta, and Jet (Delta has a non-stop service, while Jet stops over in Europe) have proved to be a bigger pull than the ''unprecedented'' comfort promised by AI on its mint fresh long-range Boeing 777 jets.

AI has reduced economy class fares by Rs4,000 to Rs50,700. But it is the business and first class tickets that have taken the biggest hits, coming down by Rs66,000 to Rs90,000. A business class ticket now costs Rs1.59 lakh, instead of Rs2.25 lakh, while first class will now cost Rs3.6 lakh, instead of Rs4.5 lakh.

After AI''s first flight on its new 238-seater Boeing 777 LR took off from Mumbai on 1 August with just 80 passengers AI seems to have realised that price, not pampering, is the biggest attraction for customers.