Bengaluru-San Francisco flight on January 11

Air India to launch its longest (14,000km) non-stop

BY S VENKAT NARAYAN

Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, November 28:

Passengers will soon be able to fly non-stop to San Francisco in the US from Bengaluru, India’s Silicon Valley and capital of Karnataka state. The country’s national carrier Air India announced last week that it will operate flights twice-weekly to the United States from January 11, 2021 from Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport.

The flight, for which the bookings have commenced from Wednesday, will be operated twice-a-week with a Boeing B777-200 LR aircraft, it said.

The new non-stop service—which will be Air India’s longest route at 14,000km and longest flight to and from India—is expected to meet the demand of corporate customers for travel to San Francisco and adjoining areas in the US, Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) said in a release.

“Passengers from Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, can soon fly non-stop to San Francisco (SFO) as India’s national carrier Air India is set to launch a twice-weekly service, scheduled to commence from January 11, 2021,” the release said.

This will be the first non-stop flight between Bengaluru and the United States, connecting the world’s two tech hubs – the original Silicon Valley and the Silicon Valley of India, it added.

Earlier in 2015, Air India had announced its plans to connect the two cities with a direct flight, but the plan could not fructify. Later, the government-owned airline launched services to San Francisco from New Delhi.

The first nonstop flight between Bengaluru and San Francisco is a significant milestone for Bangalore Airport, and will transform it as the new gateway to India, the release said. This will tremendously help passengers, enabling faster and easier access to cities on the west coast of the US.

Air India plans to operate a 238-seater Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft to serve the largest unserved international origin/ destination (O/D) market for Bangalore Airport.

Bengaluru and San Francisco are ranked first and second, respectively, among the World’s top 45 digitally advanced cities.

The new route sets two records: it will be Air India’s longest route at 14,000 km (8,698 miles) and longest flight to and from India (over 16 hours), BIAL said.