By Parveen Chopra, IANS
New York : Jet Airways’ inaugural flight between New York and New Delhi with 150 passengers aboard took off Sunday from JFK airport after a brief religious ceremony at the departure lounge.
This is Jet’s third daily service between India and North America.
“The new flight is an exciting opportunity for us as it opens up another part of America’s East Coast,” Deepak Oberoi, Jet’s regional director (East Coast & South America), told DNA.
He added the flight would be convenient for passengers from areas including the eastern part of New York, upstate New York and Connecticut.
Gurvinder Singh, an upstate New York businessman, agreed. “I had booked a seat on the inaugural flight two months ago,” he said.
The Brussels-Delhi leg of the inaugural flight Sunday had all 312 seats booked.
Jet had earlier launched flights between Newark (New Jersey) and Mumbai and between Toronto and Chennai.
All three flights have stopovers in Brussels, a hub for Jet, around the same time, making it convenient for passengers to switch flights, depending on their final destination.
The religious ceremony at JFK’s departure lounge of Terminal 8 had priests from Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and Christian religions saying prayers for the success of the service and welfare of passengers.
Jet Airways flights to and from both New York have Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, offering passengers First Class, Première Class and Economy Class.
The airline claims to offer top class luxury, privacy and comfort in the air, including First Class suites with the world’s longest airline beds, private closets, dining tables for two, and 23″ flat-screens.
Première (business) class pods offer what are considered the most comfortable Business Class seats in the sky that convert to 73″-long flat beds.
Jet also flies from India to London, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo, Bangkok and Kathmandu.
It plans to commence service to more cities including San Francisco, Chicago, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Johannesburg.