NEW DELHI: Bengaluru (BLR) once again has a direct flight to San Francisco (SFO), with Air India resuming the nonstop from Friday.
Now the Tata Group airline has 37 weekly nonstops between India and the US, a number that is all set to increase in coming months.
In its state-owned days during the pandemic, AI had operated some BLR-SFO nonstops under the then air bubble arrangement.
From Friday, it has started a thrice weekly scheduled direct connectivity between the Silicon Vallies of India and the US. The flight will operate on Fridays, Sundays and Wednesdays on Boeing 777-200LR aircraft.
A leading US carrier had announced nonstops on this route several months back but is yet to start the flight. AI had in January 2021 operated a SFO-BLR nonstop with all-women flight deck crew and the aircraft had taken the polar route to its destination.
“The direct distance between Bengaluru and San Francisco is about 13,993 kms and the cities are diametrically at opposite ends of the world with a time zone change of nearly 13.5 hours. The total flight time on this route will be of more than 17 hours depending on the wind speed on that particular day. The route for this flight will be the safest, fastest and most economical,” AI said in a statement.
“This will take Air India’s India-US frequency to 37 non-stop flights per week. At present, Air India operates non-stop flights from Delhi to New York, Newark, Washington DC, San Francisco and Chicago and from Mumbai to Newark. Air India is set to spread its wings further in the United States with the commencement of its first-ever non-stop service between Mumbai and San Francisco and to New York,” the statement added.
