Bengaluru: The all-women crew of Air India’s longest direct flight from San Francisco to Bengaluru landed on Monday morning after covering a distance of 16,000 kilometres in which the crew flew over the North Pole.
The direct distance between the two cities at opposite ends of the world is 13,993 km with a time zone change of around 13.5 hours, an Air India official said.
The inaugural flight AI176 departed from San Francisco in the USA at 8.30 pm (local time) on Saturday and landed at the Kempegowda International Airport at 3.45 am (local time) on Monday.
Earlier, on Saturday, the minister had said in a tweet that Air India’s woman power flies high around the world and it was a historic inaugural flight between the two cities. “Air India’s woman power flies high around the world. All women cockpit crew consisting of Captain Zoya Agarwal, Capt Papagari Thanmai, Capt Akanksha Sonawane, and Capt Shivani Manhas will operate the historic inaugural flight between Bengaluru and San Francisco,” he said.
The aerial distance between San Francisco and Bengaluru is one of the longest in the world.
