Air India is flying an all-female crew flight today from San Francisco to Bengaluru.
Air India today is operating its inaugural flight from San Francisco to Bengaluru and to mark the occasion, Air India will operate an all-female crew flight. The flight will be operated by four pilots (working in rotations due to the length of the flight).
The flight is Air India’s longest, spanning over 16,000km and will take 17 hours flying over the North Pole.
“Most people in the world will not see the North Pole or even its map in their lifetime. I feel truly feel privileged and humbled by the trust posed in me by the civil aviation ministry and our flag carrier. It is a golden opportunity to command a Boeing 777 inaugural SFO-BLR, one of the world’s longest flight over the North Pole.”
said Captain Zoya Agarwal, Air India, in a statement to India.com
Hardeep Singh Puri, Aviation Minister of India, tweeted:
The flight has took-off
Air India tweeted:
The Boeing B777-200 LR( Long Range) registered as VT-ALG took off from San Francisco International Airport in California at 8:58 local time. At the time of writing, the aircraft is currently cruising over Vancouver, Canada at 30,000 feet.
The aircraft will then fly over the North Pole before entering the Indian airspace.
History in the making
Today’s flight marks three big achievements;
- All women-cockpit crew
- Longest flight into India
- Crossing the North Pole
Busy route
United will launch its own Bangalore-San Francisco service later this summer using a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. In the winter, American will launch its own Seattle-Bangalore route, adding the third Bangalore-US route in under a year.
According to Bangalore Mirror, Air India’s inaugural flight from San Francisco to Bengaluru is completely booked out, with all 238 seats sold to passengers. This includes eight in first class, 35 business in class seats, and 195 in economy.
You can track today’s inaugural flight here.
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