New Delhi (IANS): Spurred by the far-reaching civil aviation pact signed recently between India and the U.S., Continental Airlines is set to start its daily non-stop service between New Jersey and New Delhi from November.

“Continental’s Delhi-Newark service is being launched on Nov. 2, 2005. The first eastbound flight will depart Newark’s Liberty International Airport Nov. 1,” a spokesman for the U.S. carrier said. Fares begin from $499 each way. “The airline will fly Boeing-777 aircraft with 48 seats in the business and first class cabin and 235 seats in the economy class,” the spokesman told Indo-Asian News Service from the airline’s London office.

The airline official said this would be Continental’s longest flight after the service to Hong Kong. “The flying time will be approximately 15 hours and 50 minutes for westbound, and 13 hours and 55 minutes eastbound,” he said.

“Our non-stop service will offer average travel time savings between New Delhi and New York of at least two hours westbound and two-and-a-half hours eastbound, as well as cutting journey time to and from numerous other U.S. cities. “Continental Airlines is proud and excited to be the first airline to introduce non-stop flights between India and the U.S.,” said Jim Summerford, vice president for Europe, Middle East and India.

He said an added advantage of flying Continental will be quick and easy onward connections to cities throughout the Americas from the same airline as well as the same terminal.

Connections will be available to Continental’s 427 daily services from Liberty International Airport to 170 destinations in the Americas, including 153 that are served with non-stop flights, airline officials added. One of the reasons that prompted Continental to fly to India was a lack of non-stop service between the two countries.

“There is obviously an opportunity for us. The U.S. is India’s largest trading partner and India has significant volumes of business traffic to and from the U.S., which currently flies via intermediate countries,” the spokesman said.

“There is also a lot of VFR (visits to friends and relatives) traffic between the two countries,” he said, adding the airline was also evaluating opportunities for future service.