Continental Airlines Nonstop New York-Mumbai Service

Continental Airlines has had new nonstop service between Newark Liberty International and Mumbai, India in the works for some time. Well, the airline just announced it will launch the new service earlier than originally planned, with flights beginning October 1, 2007. The service will initially be available four days a week, departing Newark on Sunday, Monday, Friday and Saturday. On October 28, service will increase to a daily frequency.

The New York Liberty-Mumbai flights will be operated by Boeing 777-200 aircraft. The flight schedule will be as follows, subject to
government approval:

• Flight CO48, will depart New York Liberty on Sunday and Monday at 7:20 p.m., arriving at Mumbai at 7:40 p.m. the next day; on Friday and Saturday, the same flight will depart New York Liberty at 8:00 p.m., arriving at Mumbai at 8:20 p.m. the following day.
• Flight CO49 will depart Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport on Monday, Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday at 11:45 p.m., arriving at New York Liberty at 6:30 a.m. the following day.

Flying times will be approximately 14 hours 50 minutes eastbound and 16 hours 15 minutes westbound. That’s a long one. Continental’s India flights feature special products and services for Indian customers, including a Bollywood movie channel in Hindi on the inflight entertainment system, traditional Indian music on the world music audio channel, instructional videos and pre-recorded announcements in Hindi, menus are available in English and Hindi and meals (both Indian vegetarian and Indian non-vegetarian) designed by Indian chefs based in the U.S. and in India. No beef is served. In addition, local Indian newspapers are available for BusinessFirst customers.