The move will have a major impact on Air India (AI)'s marketshare and revenue from this sector. Major European carriers, such as British Airways and Lufthansa which offer convenient connections to the USA for Indian travellers, will also take a beating from UA's non-stop offer.

Industry experts feel that AI will lose marketshare to UA in a big way as the latter's non-stop flight is expected to be six hours shorter than what the national flag carrier offers.

Moreover, AI is relying on its USA-bound service for a major chunk of its revenue, having withdrawn from major destinations like Frankfurt and Rome. Therefore, AI's profitability on this sector is bound to take a beating as well.

AI currently operates six flights a week to Chicago. All its Chicago-boundflights have a one-and-half-hour stopover at London. The time taken by the AI service to Chicago is 21 hours, six hours more than UA's proposed 15-hour flight.

AI has steadily increased its flights to USA in recent months owing to the huge load factors it was drawing. It also has seven flights a week to New York, with stop-overs at London and Frankfurt. The Frankfurt stop-over is now being worked out.

In order to compete with UA, AI needs to purchase new aircraft, say experts. While it also has the Boeing 747-400 aircraft, these will have to be modified for a non-stop USA-India service. Otherwise, the airline has to purchase the new Airbus A 340 or the Boeing 777 to operate a non-stop USA flight.

Air India and UA are the only two airlines which are equipped to fly non-stop between India and USA. European carriers are hampered by air bilateral rules from undertaking a similar venture.