AI to begin non-stop Ahmedabad - London flight

Beginning this Independence Day, people flying from Ahmedabad to London and Newark will get freedom from long and roundabout transit flights. Air India is going to fly nonstop from Ahmedabad to London Heathrow and the same aircraft will fly on to Newark, an airport in New Jersey that is in New York metropolitan area. The flights will begin from August 15 .
Currently, travellers from Ahmedabad have to fly to London via Mumbai which takes 12.5 hours to reach Heathrow. “The new non-stop flight will take only 9.5 hours, reducing the travel time by 3 hours,“ said Nirbhik Narang, station manager, Air India Ahmedabad.
Similarly, flyers from Ahmedabad to Newark also fly via Mumbai currently.These flyers too will be able to go through the new flight which will have halt of two hours at London.
The flight AI-171 will leave Ahmedabad every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5 am from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport reaching London at 10.15 am (local time).After a brief halt at London, the same aircraft will leave for Newark at 12.30 pm (local time) reaching at 3 pm (local time).
In the return leg, flight AI-172 will leave Newark every Monday, Thursday and Friday and will reach Ahmedabad via London.  “On Sundays, the flight would operate Ahmedabad-London-Ahmedabad only with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner,“ added Narang. AI-175 will leave Ahmedabad at 4.4 0am every Sunday and reaching London at 9.55 am (local time). On return leg, the flight AI-176 would leave London at 12.35 pm (local time) and reach Ahmedabad at 2.05 am next day.
On the remaining days of the week such as Tuesdays and Thursdays, Air India will provide convenient connecting flights from Ahmedabad to Mumbai and further to Newark and London. The national carrier will deploy Boeing 787-Dreamliner for these new flights which will have 18 business class seats and 238 economy class seats.
Around 6 lakh Gujaratis live in the UK and a non-stop flight to Ahmedabad was a long pending demand.
In December last year, Air India had begun Ahmedabad-London direct flight via Mumbai after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement in November during his UK visit.