Northwest suspends its Seattle-Bangalore flight

Two days before the scheduled launch of its much-awaited flight between Seattle and Bangalore, Northwest Airlines has announced its 8216;...

Two days before the scheduled launch of its much-awaited flight between Seattle and Bangalore, Northwest Airlines has announced its 8216;8216;indefinite suspension8217;8217;. A spokesperson told The Indian Express on Friday that Northwest8217;s recent decision to reduce its level of flying because of spiraling fuel prices is behind the move.

The daily Seattle-Amsterdam-Bangalore flight was scheduled to be launched on October 30. The airline had been building up promotional offers and carrying on the campaign for the past several months.

Of late the airline has been running into deep financial crisis. It has filed for bankruptcy, and is also having a tough time in running and maintaining its fleet of aircraft because of indefinite strike by its mechanics. The airline8217;s spokesperson, however, said the other Northwest flights to New Delhi and Mumbai would continue as usual.

Because of its financial crisis, the airline has also reduced a number of domestic flights. Among the international flights, it has suspended for a six months, Minneapolis-London flight and reduced the frequency of Detroit-Paris flight from seven to five days a week.

It is believed that a large number of passengers had booked for the flight to Bangalore as the airline had launched an intensive publicity campaign and promotional offer for past several months.

8216;8216;We apologise for any inconvenience this action has caused our passengers. Northwest is contacting customers to arrange alternate travel arrangements,8217;8217; she said. The official had no idea when the new dates would be announced. As of now, it has been suspended indefinitely.

The official asserted that they viewed India as an emerging market and was eying to get a share of it. 8216;8216;Northwest remains committed to India,8217;8217; she said.

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Northwest, through its JV with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, has provided service to India since October 1997, and currently offers daily flights from 16 North American gateway cities to Mumbai and New Delhi, via Amsterdam. Early this month, Northwest had entered into a marketing agreement with Jet Airways.

Meanwhile, Continental Airlines said it was going ahead with its plan to launch the first non-stop New York-New Delhi flight on November 1.