India's national carrier Air India will soon launch daily flights between Washington and Indian

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cities with a stopover in Milan.

The decision to start a daily flight connecting Delhi amd Kolkata with Washington via Milan follows the successful launch of Air India's New Delhi-New York-Washington since December last year.

S Ghole, head of Air India operation in Washington, told PTI that all necessary clearance has been obtained from the authorities in the United States for the launch of its new service to India via Milan.

Milan has been chosen as a stopover, so as to attract the European traffic too. Details of the new flights are expected to be announced soon.

Once the flight to India via Milan is launched, Air India flights coming to Washington from New York would cease.

Over the past one decade there has been an upsurge in Indian American population in Washington metropolitan area, with the current estimated population being about 300,000.

As of now, more than half a dozen airlines connect Washington with Indian cities with a daily traffic to India being around 600.

Air India is planning to tap into this growing segment and also the traffic between Washington and Europe through a stopover in Milan