India's international carrier Air-India said on Thursday that it would launch three new weekly flights to the United States from Mumbai starting June 11, bringing its total weekly flights there to 23.

"Until now Air-India has been meeting the demand on the east coast of the US. We now have put all elements together enabling Air-India to operate to the west coast," said A-I chairman V Tulsidas.

"The three new flights will be on the Mumbai-Frankfurt-Los Angeles route."

He said the number of Los Angeles flights would be raised to five per week from October, and increased further to a flight a day by March 2005.

Of the 20 present flights, seven go each to New York and Newark and six to Chicago.

Tulsidas said the airline had grown by 17 per cent in capacity during the year to March 2004 and also significantly in revenues, which touched Rs 5,550 crore (Rs 55.5 billion) for the year, up from Rs 4900 crore (Rs 49 billion) a year earlier.

Profits, however, dipped marginally from Rs 133 crore (Rs 1.33 billion) in 2002-2003.

"The profit figures will be declared soon," Tulsidas said without giving a timeframe.

Air-India spokesman Jitender Bhargava said the Mumbai-Frankfurt-Los Angeles flight would be the shortest flight from India to the US.

"We are the only airline providing a direct flight to the US with no change of aircraft," he said.

The Mumbai to Los Angeles flight would cost Rs 58,000 for an economy ticket and around Rs 250,000 for a first class fare.

Air-India in March launched two new flights to London from Bombay via the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, taking the total flights to London to 15 per week, including three code-sharing flights with Virgin Atlantic.

The airline is also to launch an additional flight to Nairobi and a maiden flight from Cochin in south India to Salalah in Oman.

The airline is awaiting government approval for expanding its fleet.

Air-India forwarded a proposal in November 2003 to buy a mix of 28 planes from Airbus and Boeing in a deal valued at around $2.2 billion.

AFP