Mumbai flight gets inaugural send-off

Jaymini Patel was amazed Monday night as she approached her gate at Newark Liberty International Airport for her first flight home to visit her family in India in two years.
A raucous Indian party was in full swing behind a phalanx of security personnel at Gate 90. It was an inaugural celebration for Continental Airlines' first nonstop flight to Mumbai, India, complete with sitar and tabla players, traditional dancers, a henna artist and a lavish buffet of Indian food.
"It blew my mind," said Patel, 30, who works in human resources for Sumas Corp., an information technology company in Edison. "It was a great welcome. I felt like I was already in India."
Continental Airlines has been courting the Indian diaspora in the Northeast since 2005, when it started nonstop service to Delhi from Newark. Ticket sales to New Jersey's community of 257,000 Asian Indians will contribute to Continental's success with the route; but the most important source of revenue will be the business travelers from northern New Jersey who are very interested in saving at least four hours and avoiding a stop in Europe, said Robert Mann, an airline industry analyst and consultant, in Port Washington, N.Y.
Mumbai will be Continental's 30th trans-Atlantic route.
At 6 p.m., Jeff Smisek, president of Continental Airlines, made welcoming remarks that drew applause from the passengers, when he noted the auspicious date of their arrival, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, the late political and spiritual leader of India.
Then Smisek slipped off his shoes and participated in a traditional puja ceremony for success and safety in front of a shrine to the elephant-headed god Ganesh conducted by Pravinchandra Maheta, a Hindu priest from Parsipanny.
In deference to the setting, the coconut used in the ceremony was broken with a hammer, instead of being flung onto the floor.
Continental will initially operate four flights a week to Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport until Oct. 28 when it will begin daily flights. It will fly its largest aircraft, the Boeing 777-200 on the route until it accepts delivery of Boeing 787 Dreamliners that are on order, Smisek said.
Flights to Mumbai also will have Indian cultural touches on board, such as ethnic food and a prohibition on beef, which is culturally taboo.
03/10/07 Abby Gruen/The Star-Ledger - NJ.com, US

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Foreign Oct 2007, New Oct 2007