World's longest air route: Air India women pilots to fly over North Pole
An all-women cockpit crew will fly into Indian aviation history on Saturday when it operates the inaugural San Francisco-Bengaluru flight, going over the North Pole and taking the Atlantic route to reach the Karnataka capital at the other end of the world.
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Air India said, “This will be the longest commercial flight in the world to be operated by Air India or any other airline in India...The total flight time on this route will be of more than 17 hours depending on the wind speed on that particular day,”
An Air India official stated, The direct distance between the two cities at opposite ends of the world is 13,993 km with a time zone change of around 13.5 hours.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri tweeted, “Air India's woman power flies high around the world,”
Adding, “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 & San Francisco,”
Air India stated, “Captain Zoya Aggarwal is an accomplished pilot with a flying experience of more than 8000 hours and command experience in a B-777 aircraft of more than 10 years and more than 2500 flying hours,”