On Monday, the longest direct flight of Air India (AI-176), from San Francisco to Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport successfully landed with an all-woman cockpit crew. The cockpit crew consisted of four women pilots- Captain Zoya Aggarwal, Captain Papagari Thanmai, Captain Shivani Manhas and Captain Akansha Sonaware. This is the world’s longest commercial flight to be operated by any Indian airline. On Saturday, the national carrier had said on this route, the total flight time would be of more than 17 hours depending on the wind speed on that day. Between the two cities, the direct distance is 13,993 kilometres with a time zone change of approximately 13.5 hours, according to a PTI report.
Sporting black uniform and donning the airline’s cap, the all-woman cockpit crew were received at the Bengaluru Airport by the team members of Air India, which had put out a banner reading a warm welcome to the guests on AI-176 plane’s inaugural flight, 11 January 2021- from San Francisco to Bengaluru.
Civil Aviation Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri congratulated the all-woman cockpit crew with a Tweet saying, heartiest congratulations to Captain Zoya Aggarwal, Captain Papagari Thanmai, Captain Akansha Sonaware and Captain Shivani Manhas for flying over the North Pole to land at Bengaluru Airport from San Francisco. The airline Air India also greeted the crew members with a tweet stating, welcome home Captain Zoya Agarwal, Captain Papagari Thanmei, Captain Akanksha and Captain Shivani after completing a landmark journey. It further said kudos for making the airline- Air India proud. The airline also congratulated the passengers of the AI-176 flight for being part of this historic moment.
According to the report, Air India flight AI-176 departed from San Francisco in the United States of America on Saturday at around 8.30 PM (local time) and the flight landed at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru on Monday at around 3.45 AM (local time).