Pittsburgh_Patrika_July_2015

The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 4, July, 2015
The Quarterly Magazine (Jan, Apr, Jul & Oct) for the Indian Diaspora
Vol. 20 No. 4 www.pittsburghpatrika.com July 2015
Phone/Fax: (724) 327 0953 e-mail: ThePatrika@aol.com
International Air Travel:
US & Persian Gulf Air Carriers Compete
Travelers Stand to Gain
By Kollengode S. Venkataraman
For people traveling from second-tier cities like Pittsburgh and
Raleigh in the US to second-tier cities in the Indian subcontinent
(Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Lucknow, Peshawar, Kochi) the gate-to-gate travel
time can be daunting. Often three stopovers
— a major hub in the US, a brief layover
in Europe, another major hub in India
like Mumbai or Delhi with long layovers.
Seniors or people traveling with infants and
kids despair even before they leave home.
This has changed now.
A few years ago, the Big-3 Persian Gulf carriers — Emirates, Etihad,
and Qatar — started their nonstops to US cities beyond JFK. We now
have 18 nonstops to US cities such as Dallas, Houston, Washington
DC, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, and Miami, to their hubs in Doha,
Abu Dhabi, and Dubai in the Persian Gulf. Incidentally, Dubai and Abu
Dhabi, new entrants to high-end international travel, have state-of-the-art
hubs and airport facilities. Later, the Big-3 US carriers (Delta, United,
and American) also started their nonstops to the Persian Gulf to get their
market share.
The Big-3 Persian Gulf carriers have
nonstop flights from their hubs to secondtier
cities like Ahmedabad, Amritsar,
Goa, Kochi, Kozhikode, Lucknow,
Multan, and Peshawar in the Indian
subcontinent. Several regional air carriers like Jet Airways, IndiGo also
have nonstops from these Persian hubs to smaller cities in the Indian
subcontinent.
Because of these options, the gate-to-gate travel times between second
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