MUMBAI, Dec 16: A direct Mumbai-San Francisco flight was launched by Air India
on Thursday. Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia virtually inaugurated
the thrice-a-week service. Speaking on the occasion, he said civil aviation
sector in India is on the verge of a boom.
The newly-inducted Boeing 777-200LR aircraft will operate the flights between
Mumbai and San Francisco on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, according to an
Air India press release.
The twin-engine aircraft has a seating capacity for 8 first, 35 business and
195 economy class passengers. It has an overall length of 209 ft, height 61.8
ft and cabin width 19.1 ft.
The new Mumbai-San Francisco flight will take the total number of direct flights
between India and the US to 40 flights per week, it said.
After the airline launched a thrice-a-week direct flight between Bengaluru
and San Francisco on December 2, it had non-stop flights from Mumbai to Newark,
from Delhi to New York, Newark, Washington DC, San Francisco and Chicago, and
from Bengaluru to San Francisco.
Air India is also planning to launch services from Mumbai to New York, Frankfurt
and Paris in early 2023.
"Air India continues to develop Mumbai as an important hub for international
as well as domestic traffic. The launch of the Mumbai-San Francisco route will
be followed by Mumbai-New York City (JFK), Mumbai-Frankfurt and Mumbai-Paris
flights. Additional domestic flights originating from Mumbai will also be added,"
the release said.
