UNITED AIRLINES TAKES THE FAST TRACK TO INDIA WITH NEW DAILY NON-STOP SERVICE LINKING CHICAGO WITH NEW DELHI

United Airlines (NYSE:UAL) has announced that it will launch non-stop daily service between Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, on October 27, 2001. The addition makes United the only airline that flies nonstop between the United States and India, and offers customers some of the fastest travel times between major cities in the two countries. The new flights became available for sale Thursday, August 16, 2001.

In addition to meeting the needs of business and leisure travelers in Chicago, the new service will be the fastest way to reach New Delhi from many cities across North America, including the East Coast. Using convenient connections through Chicago O’Hare, United’s largest airport and hometown hub, customers on the East Coast will find the Chicago connection quicker and more convenient than traveling eastbound to India via Europe. Additionally, United’s unique flight schedule has an early departure from the U.S., allowing for same-day connections to many major cities in India including Mumbai (Bombay) and Kolkata (Calcutta). The return flight schedule from New Delhi will provide one of the only daylight departures to the United States, with plenty of time for customers to connect in New Delhi from major business centers in India.

"India is a dynamic and fast-growing country which has been under-served from the U.S. These new flights will provide tremendous opportunities for both local and connecting customers," said Rono Dutta, president of United Airlines. "We’re excited about linking our primary hub airport at Chicago with New Delhi, and opening up India to the whole U.S."

United will offer Boeing 747-400 three-class service, featuring a configuration of 14 state-of-the-art United First Suites, 73 seats in United Business, 88 seats in United Economy Plus and 172 seats in United Economy. The new flight will cover nearly 7,500 miles across the polar route that United Airlines helped pioneer.

As a result of the new non-stop service, United Airlines will withdraw service between Hong Kong and New Delhi and between London and New Delhi.

"Our ultimate goal has always been to serve India non-stop from the United States," added Dutta. "Connecting service via London and Hong Kong has been popular with customers, however regulatory restrictions in Hong Kong have made the route difficult to operate. The new non-stop route opens up tremendous opportunities for travelers and we believe that the service will be very successful."

The company said operation of the new flight would be subject to certain governmental approvals.

United flight UA 992 will depart Chicago O’Hare at 3:40 p.m., arriving in New Delhi at 5:25 p.m., the following day. The return flight, UA 991, will depart New Delhi at 11:15 a.m. and arrive in Chicago at 2:50 p.m. The planned flying time from Chicago to New Delhi will be 14 hours and 15 minutes, while the planned flying time from New Delhi to Chicago will be 15 hours and 5 minutes.

United offers nearly 2,400 flights each day on a network that spans the globe.