NEW DELHI: Mumbai will for the first time be directly connected to San Francisco (SFO) from December 2 and then within a fortnight, Bengaluru will also have a nonstop to the Golden Gate city, thanks to Air India returning to founder Tata Group fold. AI will mount 20 additional weekly flights — London (9), Birmingham (5) and SFO (6) — in a phased manner over the next three months.
This has been made possible as the airline will soon induct five Boeing 777 long range and is bringing back into service several planes that had to be grounded for lack of spares during the Maharaja’s hand-to-mouth state-owned days. The 20 additional flights will mean an addition of over 5,000 seats every week. Due to western carriers not overflying Russian airspace, India-US direct connectivity has taken a severe hit as United has suspended Mumbai-Newark (New York) and Delhi-SFO nonstops while Delta is yet to resume flights to the country after March 2020.
