Air India all-woman crew on historic flight to Bengaluru

The flight from San Francisco to Bengaluru is being piloted and managed by an all-woman crew of Air India.

Air India all- woman crew has flown from San Francisco, USA on Saturday and is expected to reach Bengaluru on Monday. This is the longest non-stop commercial flight which is expected to land at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru at 3:45 am on Monday. As per an Air Indian official, the total direct distance between the two cities which are at two opposite ends of the world is 13,993 km and the time zone change is of around 13.5 hours.

Air India's Captain Zoya Aggarwal said, "It's 16,000-odd km. So, we are looking at world's longest flight. And, yes, we are going to try and fly the polar route (over the North Pole). However, it depends on multitude of factors like solar radiations and the turbulence. So, we are going to sit tight and hope that we will go polar and break all sorts of records," reported by NDTV. She further said that they cannot fly directly over the North Pole because of the magnetic field.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri congratulated the crew by tweeting, "Air India's woman power flies high around the world. All women cockpit crew consisting of Capt Zoya Aggarwal, Capt Papagari Thanmai, Capt Akansha Sonaware & Capt Shivani Manhas will operate the historic inaugural flight between Bengaluru and San Francisco."  The total time of the flight is of approximately 17 hours.