Modi Announces New Delhi-San Francisco Direct Flights

Now there are no direct flights between India and northern California despite the area’s large Indian population, partly due to the success of the state’s Silicon Valley.

It had previously been reported that Air India was considering a non-stop service between Bengaluru and San Francisco, which would have been the world’s longest regularly scheduled non-stop service at around 18 hours. This will be a thrice-a-week flight.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced Air India’s entry to the west coast of the U.S. while concluding a speech to the Indian American community in San Jose. “I am sure this will further enhance arrivals from both countries and augment the tourism sector on an overall basis”. The current longest flight is Qantas’s 17-hour trip from Dallas to Sydney, at 5,578 miles. It will make travel easy and convenient for students and parents of NRIs.

Software professionals have been seeking a direct flight between San Francisco and Bengaluru for many years.

It already operates daily non-stop flights to New York and Chicago.

Passengers from seven cities in India-Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Ahmedabad and Pune will have “seamless connections” to the flight from Delhi.

The New Delhi-San Francisco service will be flown in a Boeing 777-200 LR (Long Range) plane. The return flight will have an early morning departure from San Francisco and arrive in Delhi in the afternoon.

“The flight will offer a 3-cabin configuration, with eight first class seats, 35 in business class and 195 seats in economy class”, the Air India said.