Air India scored first dibs on the San Francisco to Bangalore non-stop route, launching AI176 / AI175 flight between the two airports on January 9, 2021, from San Francisco to Bengaluru using a Boeing 777LR, which arrived in Bengaluru on January 11, 2021.

Air India had launched their Delhi – San Francisco operations back in 2015, which became one of their most profitable routes and they were operating 9-10X weekly as the route matured. United followed into their footsteps and launched Delhi – SFO of their own as well in 2018. Now, as the race to launch non-stops between India and the USA starts in right earnest, Air India went one-up on United for their upcoming San Francisco – Bengaluru non-stop flights, which are scheduled to launch on May 6, 2021.

Bangalore used to have a routing via Delhi so far, and it has been a long-standing ask of Bengaluru travellers to get them a direct non-stop flight. Air India is planning to launch its own Bengaluru – San Francisco non-stop flight in the coming months.

Air India operates inaugural San Francisco – Bengaluru non-stop on January 9, 2021

Air India operated the inaugural San Francisco – Bengaluru non-stop on January 9, 2021. The flight, which clocked 16:39 hours between the two airports, was operated by an all-women cockpit crew of four, supported by Air India’s Director of Flight Safety. The launch of this route makes it the longest flight in the Air India network, and the 6th longest flight globally at the time of writing this.

 Since it was an inaugural, Air India and the San Francisco airport had a small celebration at the gates.

The flight was operated by Captain Zoya Aggarwal, Captain Papagari Thanmai, Captain Akansha Sonaware and Captain Shivani Manhas.

Air India celebrated that it was a historic flight as it flew over the North Pole by an all-women crew.

Flying the polar route is nothing new. Airlines such as Singapore Airlines and Emirates have used the route frequently over the years. It requires some special preparation to be flying this route, given diversions need to be planned due to the polar route’s remote nature. As per Business Standard, AI has been working to operate SFO flights on the polar route since 2019. However, the use of the polar route will lead to savings of time and fuel.

Time for some statistics.
Time saved=1hr/flight=7.2T #FuelSavings=1500T/year
1T=3.17T of CO2
4sectors( two flights)/weekX52=208 sectors/year
7.2X3.17×208=4747T of Carbon emissions less per year !! #GreenerPlanet #CleanerPlanet #SFOBLR #Polar @airindiain @flySFO @BLRAirport

— Nivedita Bhasin (@nivedita_bhasin) January 9, 2021

For the Bengaluru – San Francisco connection, AI175 from Bengaluru will operate with a Boeing 777-200LR aircraft twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays departing from Bengaluru at 1430 hours to arrive in San Francisco at 1700 hrs (local time) on the same day. The return flight AI176 from San Francisco will operate on Saturdays and Tuesdays leaving San Francisco at 2030 hrs (local time) to arrive in Bengaluru at 0230 hours +2 days.

Bottomline

Flying between San Francisco and Bengaluru will become shorter with the launch of the new non-stop flight pair AI175/AI176 between the two cities on January 9, 2021, to be operated by a Boeing 777LR. Air India will operate a monopoly on this route till United joins in later in the year with its 787-9 service on the same route.

Are you looking forward to flying non-stop between San Francisco and Bengaluru?

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