The Indian national carrier Air India announced on Tuesday that it is going to start new flights to the US from January 2021.
The airline is going to start 2 non-stop flight services. One between Bengaluru and San Francisco from 9 January, and second, between Hyderabad and Chicago will from 13 January.
For the Bengaluru-San Francisco service, the airline plans to operate a 238-seater Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft to serve the largest unserved international origin/destination market for Bengaluru Airport, it said, adding that Bengaluru and San Francisco are ranked first and second among the world’s top 45 digitally advanced cities.
The new Bengaluru-San Francisco 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).
And for the Hyderabad-Chicago service, which start will from 13 January, Air India will operate Boeing 777-200 aircraft, with a seating capacity of 238 (8 First Class + 35 Business Class + 195 Economy Class) on the route. In addition to Hyderabad-Chicago direct flight, Air India also plans to connect Bengaluru and San Francisco from next month.
Hyderabad offers convenient proximity for passengers originating from nearby cities like Vijayawada, Vishakhapatnam, Nagpur, Bhubaneswar, Rajahmundry, Bhopal, and Tirupati, pushing an additional demand of approximately 220,000 passengers annually.
Air India currently operates non-stop flights from Delhi to New York, Newark, Washington, San Francisco and Chicago and from Mumbai to Newark.
With the announcement of the plans, Air India has put in competition with United and American, who plan to fly similar routes next year.
Moreover, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday also hinted that there might be a short ban on flights to and from UK beyond December 31.
The hint comes because of 6 returnees from the UK found positive for the new strain of the Covid-19.
However, What will happen on December 31. This is something on which we are applying our minds. We already on 29th (December). We are getting the full picture. I also see that flights from the UK are currently suspended in other countries too. We are monitoring this and will take a decision accordingly, Puri has said.
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