Air-India has decided to operate two weekly flights to China's commercial capital Shanghai from December 11.

A-I's maiden flight to Shanghai from Mumbai would fly via Delhi and Bangkok.

The airline has also decided to increase frequency of flights to Frankfurt and Chicago from December, which would form part of its winter schedule.

Celebrating commencement of the airline's new operations at a function in New Delhi on Sunday night, Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said that Air-India had almost doubled the capacity to the United States in the last one year.

Observing that he was happy to share the pride of "Maharaja", Rudy said that the government was keen on creating world-class airports at Mumbai and Delhi and committed to see that Air-India became a world-class airline.

Civil Aviation secretary K Roy Paul said that though there was apprehension this year because of factors like Iraq war, the first half yearly results showed it was a "healthy company. We are certain to make significant profit this year."

Air-India had registered an impressive profit of Rs 133.85 crore (Rs 1.34 billion) in the financial year ended March 31, 2003.

A-I managing director Sunil Arora said that the company was making constant effort to expand its activities by 10 per cent every year.