Air India’s all-women pilot team completes longest direct route from San Francisco to Bengaluru flight

Bengaluru: National carrier Air India’s direct route flight with the all-women cockpit crew team landed at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru from San Francisco on Monday.

This was Air India’s first flight from San Francisco to Bengaluru.

The flight was operated by an all women cockpit crew of Capt Zoya Aggarwal (P1), Capt Papagari Thanmai (P1), Capt Akansha Sonaware (P2) and Capt Shivani Manhas (P2).

Today, we created world history by not only flying over the North Pole but also by having all women pilots who successfully did it. We are extremely happy and proud to be part of it. This route has saved 10 tonnes of fuel: Captain Zoya Aggarwal at Bengaluru airport https://t.co/wRyNNKC4GJ pic.twitter.com/q8jZgB6HBt

— ANI (@ANI) January 10, 2021

Notably, the direct distance between Bengaluru and San Francisco is approximately 13,993 km and the cities are diametrically at opposite ends of the world with a time zone change of about 13.5 hours.

This was the longest commercial flight in the world operated by Air India or any other airline in India.

The flight operated with a Boeing 777-200LR aircraft VT ALG with a seating capacity of 238 seats including 8 first class, 35 business class, 195 economy class configurations, besides 4 cockpit and 12 cabin crew.

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 and New York.

In addition, the airline plans to start its first ever non-stop service between Hyderabad and Chicago from January 15.

(With inputs from IANS)