E-Paper
Scindia inaugurates Mumbai-San Franciscodirect flight of Air India
The non-stop flight will be operated thrice a week — on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays — via a Boeing 777-200LR aircraft.
New Delhi: Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday inaugurated Air India’s new direct flight between Mumbai and San Francisco and said it will “open new doors of possibilities”.
The non-stop flight will be operated thrice a week -- on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays -- via a Boeing 777-200LR aircraft.
“Today is a historic day for Maharashtra, India, and Air India,” said Scindia at the event held virtually and also attended by Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde.
“The civil aviation sector in India is on the cusp of transformation, and India is the third-largest civil aviation market in the world with a growth of 10.6% CAGR in the last 10 years,” said Scindia. “With Air India’s legacy, culture and vision, the airline will take Indian civil aviation to newer heights.”
Taking to Twitter, the Union minister further said: “After record domestic passenger traffic, we have hit yet another milestone with the launch of direct flights between Mumbai & San Francisco! Connecting the country’s financial capital with America’s tech hub, the new flight will open new doors of possibilities.”
Air India flight AI 179 to San Francisco took off from Mumbai at 2.30 pm. The return flight, AI 180, was scheduled to depart from San Francisco at 9 pm on Thursday and arrive at Mumbai at 3.40 am on December 17.
After the Tata group took over the loss-making Air India in January this year, the airline has been working on expanding its services and fleet.
“Today is a great moment for the people of Maharashtra, as Air India bridges the distance between Maharashtra and San Francisco,” said Shinde. “The government is focused to boost the civil aviation sector, and build many more airports, and helipads in other parts of Maharashtra...”
The launch of the Mumbai-San Francisco flight comes shortly after the launch of Air India’s thrice weekly flight between Bengaluru and San Francisco on December 2. The addition of the Mumbai-San Francisco flight will take Air India’s flight frequency between India and the United States to 40 non-stop flights per week, according to a press note by the airline.
Currently, Air India operates non-stop flights commuting passengers from Delhi to New York, Newark, Washington DC, San Francisco, and Chicago; from Mumbai to Newark; and from Bengaluru to San Francisco.
The Mumbai-San Francisco service is a significant step forward in the journey of the new Air India, said airline’s chief executive officer and managing director Campbell Wilson. “It is a significant milestone in restoring a major Air India long haul hub in the city of Mumbai.”
