Mumbai:
National carrier Air India is all set to fly non-stop to San Francisco in the US from Bengaluru starting January 11, BIAL said on Wednesday. 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 would be Air India’s longest route at 14,000 Km 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, adding 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, it added.
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 would 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.
