Why PM Modi's Air India Flight to US Skipped the Customary Frankfurt Stopover

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived in Washington, DC for his three-day visit to the United States on Wednesday, broke a decade-long practice by not making a stopover at Frankfurt en-route.

According to India.com, the reason behind it was new capabilities of the Air India One which allow it to fly long distances without the need for fuel refill, as has been the practice so far. The state-of-the-art aircrafts were bought at the cost over Rs 4,500 crore, the report said.

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In the US, Modi held back-to-back power-packed meetings with top global CEOs of five firms as part of his foreign visit. He held talks with the Chief Executive Officers of Qualcomm, Adobe, First Solar, General Atomics, and Blackstone.