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Air India inaugurates India’s longest international flight

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Air India has inaugurated its longest international flight. The flight between Bengaluru (BLR), India to San Francisco (SFO) in the United States was officially launched on Sunday, January 10th. There had previously been plans to connect these two IT cities with each other for years, but finally, that dream is now a reality. The inaugural flight was even operated by an all-female crew make the flight even more memorable for both Air India and the passengers on board.

On Saturday, AI 176 departed from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) at 8:30 pm (PST) on and arrived at Bengaluru International Airport at 3:05 am (IST) on Monday. It covered a distance of over 16,000k, and the Indian carrier decided to take the Atlantic route, crossing over the North Pole. The female crew that operated this first flight consisted of Captain Zoya Agarwal, Captain Papagari Thanmai, Captain Akanksha Sonawane and Captain Shivani Manhas. For this historic route, Air India used its Boeing 777-200LR, which is painted in the “Mahatma Gandhi” special livery. In a tweet, seen by AeroNewsX, the Civil Aviation Minister of India, Mr. Hardeep Singh Puri said, “Way to go girls! Professional, qualified & confident, the all-women cockpit crew takes off from San Francisco to Bengaluru.”

The first flight back to San Francisco from Bengaluru was operated on January 11th. The Boeing 777-200LR registered VT-ALG was scheduled to depart Bengaluru International Airport at 14:30 local time. Arriving in San Fransico shortly before 17:00 local time with an impressive flight time of 14 hours and 40 minutes.

In a statement seen by AeroNewsX, the Director of San Fransico International Airport, Ivar C. Satero, said “We are truly honoured to be the first airport in the United States to offer nonstop flights to Bangalore. This service links two great centres of technology and innovation and strengthens the cherished sister city relationship between San Francisco and Bangalore.”

The airline said that it was conscious about its carbon footprint when launching this service and estimates that by taking the “Atlantic route,” it saved approximately between 2000kg – 10000kg of fuel. Air India said it plans to operate this route twice a week. Air India’s Boeing 777 consists of 8 first-class, 35 business class, and 195 economy class seats. According to the carrier, all 238 seats on board the first inaugural flight were all occupied, demonstrating the route’s popularity despite the COVID-19 pandemic. This route could therefore possibly be the most profitable route for Air India as there seems there is an overwhelming demand for this route even with pandemic restriction still in place

Source: https://aeronewsx.com/air-india-inaugurates-indias-longest-international-flight/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=air-india-inaugurates-indias-longest-international-flight

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