Delta moves Mumbai flight

By Charles Edwards

Atlanta, GA – Starting in November, Delta Air Lines' daily non-stop flight to Mumbai, India will begin from Atlanta instead of New York.

Delta announced the change yesterday.

The airline is leaving the highly competitive New York market in hopes to dominate southern demand for the route.

Robert Cortleyou is Delta's senior VP for network planning.

CORTLEYOU: With India it has a very large ethnic community here, not only in Atlanta, but throughout the Southeast United States and also India is very incredibly growing economy.

The move makes Delta the only US carrier in the Southeast with a daily non stop flight to Mumbai.

In New York, Delta competes with Air India. Plus, Continental Airlines offers the same service from Newark.

The Atlanta to Mumbai flight will last almost 18 hours. However, Delta says its business class passengers will be able to recline their seats into beds. The airline says the seats are one of many amenities on its 777-200 LR aircraft.