American Airlines, India Carrier Team Up

American Airlines has teamed up with Sahara Airlines Ltd., India’s third-largest domestic carrier, to sell seats on each other’s flights.

Fort Worth-based American said Tuesday it will begin a daily nonstop flight between Chicago and New Delhi on Nov. 15. The 16- hour, 7,484-mile flight — American’s longest nonstop route — will be flown by Boeing Co. 777-200s with 236 seats.

“India is a growing, exciting market for any U.S. airline,” Craig Kreeger, am American vice president, said Tuesday in New Delhi.

Air Sahara is counting on more Indians traveling between India and the United States as incomes rise in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

An estimated 2.5 million people travel between India and the United States yearly, said Air Sahara CEO Ronojoy Dutta. At least 25 percent of the traffic goes to smaller Indian cities on Indian carriers, he said.

Once the so-called code-share agreement is completed, closely held Air Sahara can book its domestic passengers on American flights out of India to the United States and other destinations. In exchange, American would sell tickets on Air Sahara to passengers booking American flights from the United States to India.