Air India to Resume Twice-Weekly Service Between Bengaluru And San Francisco This Winter

From this winter, Bengaluru (BLR) will be directly connected to San Francisco (SFO) again as Tata Group-owned Air India will launch a twice-weekly nonstop service between India’s silicon cities and the United States beginning in October (Winter Schedule).

United’s proposed BLR-SFO flight keeps getting postponed, as western airlines don’t fly over Russian airspace, which India does, and which keeps its highly successful nonstop flights between India and the west coast viable.

It may be noted that the proposed Bengaluru-Seattle nonstop by American Airlines has not yet begun service for the same reason.

“Bengaluru will get a twice-weekly (to begin with) flight to SFO later this winter schedule,” sources said.

A nonstop flight on this route has been in high demand. Indeed, during Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s visit to the West Coast earlier this month, some Indian-origin American entrepreneurs raised the issue of a lack of direct connectivity in the sector.

Air India Flights to the United States

Air India is the largest operator of nonstop flights between India and the United States, and it continues to fly over Russian airspace. Allowing its flights to take the shortest route possible.

AI recently announced that it will lease five Boeing 777 long-range (LR) aircraft. These ex-Delta planes will join Air India’s fleet between December and March 2023, where they will be used to deploy more India-US nonstop flights.

Bengaluru will then have a three times per week flight to SFO after that. 

The five long-range aircraft that will soon join the Air India fleet will also have a premium economy cabin, in addition to the first, business, and economy classes that the B777s currently have.

AI recently stated that the five B777 LRs “will be deployed on routes from Indian metro cities to the US. Mumbai will see the addition of flights to SFO as well as to both of the New York area’s international airports, Newark Liberty and John F Kennedy, while Bangalore will receive a thrice weekly service to San Francisco. These aircraft will result in AI offering premium economy haul flights for the first time.”

Air India BLR-SFO Route

Air India used to operate the route with Boeing 777-200LR long-range aircraft. The aircraft has 238 seats, including 8 First Class, 35 Business Class, and 195 Economy Class seats.

It should be noted that Air India has set two new records with its Bengaluru-San Francisco route: the longest route at 14,000+ km (8,698 miles) and the longest flight to and from India (over 16 hours).