New Delhi: In a move aimed at strengthening its global network, flag carrier Air India, will launch its first international hub at Frankfurt by the end of the month. The hub will enable the carrier to launch scissor operations, to and from North America, with a brand new fleet of Boeing aircraft.

"The Frankfurt hub will become operational on 29 March, the beginning of the summer schedule, for some of Air India's flights and will offer more convenient connections to a larger originating traffic," airline's executive director, Jitender Bhargava, said here.

AI's move follows in the footsteps of the country's largest private carrier, Jet Airways, which operates a international hub at Brussels.

According to the tentative schedule worked out by AI, it will take about 19 hours, including the changeover time at Frankfurt, for a passenger to reach the US cities from India.

A Delhi-Chicago flight would depart at 0130 hours, arrive Frankfurt at 0600 hours (local time) and reach Chicago in the morning at 1030 hours (local time). The changeover timing at Frankfurt would be "realistic and minimal" as most of Air India's aircraft would be parked side by side and a passenger would just have to shift from one gate to the other.

The state-owned national carrier also indicated it would not reduce frequencies in summer, but "restructure its West-bound operations to improve its reach by covering larger geographical areas", Bhargava said.

The airline would also introduce some new flights, including Ahmedabad-Frankfurt. From here a passenger could travel to any European destination with the help of the codeshare arrangement between Air India and Lufthansa, or fly to American cities.

The flag carrier would also increase the frequency of its Amritsar-London-Toronto service from three to six days a week, Bhargava said.

All these international flights will also be connected domestically, through hub-and-spoke operations, to places like Kochi, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Jaipur and other cities in the North or East.

Air India is gearing up to launch new international services with a brand new fleet, as it prepares to take delivery of 30 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus Industrie in the coming financial year. New deliveries include three Boeing 777-200 (Long Range), four 777-300 (Extended Range), four 737-800s, four A-320s, seven A-321s and eight A-319s.

The airline has a total of 111 aircraft on order -- 68 Boeing and 43 Airbus.

"However, some of these aircraft would phase out the aged planes and replace some leased ones. The incremental capacity would be used to introduce new services or additional frequencies," Bhargava said.

Currently, the amalgamated Air India has a total fleet strength of 151 aircraft. This would go up to around 160 by March 2010.

Air India is also "working towards" joining the Star Alliance, a 21-airline consortium, which offers 16,500 daily departures to 912 destinations in 159 countries. Membership would give Air India an extended global reach.