Air India plans to start San Francisco flights in August

The state-owned carrier Air India has scheduled the launch of its non-stop flights from Delhi to San Francisco (SFO) for August, when it gets  delivery of three Boeing 777-200 LR (long-range) aircraft.

This would be Air India’s third non-stop international flight, following its New Delhi-New York and Mumbai New-York services.

An Air India spokesperson said the airline firm was waiting to get the deliveries of the long-range aircraft for starting the SFO route, which has been on Air India’s agenda for quite some time. However, the launch of this new route assumes more significance now as other airlines, both Indian and international, are either considering closing long routes or seeking to optimise their services.

Earlier, private carrier Jet Airways had also started services to SFO via Shanghai, but discontinued it following a rationalisation exercise.

Kingfisher Airlines, the other private airline flying international, has also delayed its global plans, which includes services to SFO.

The Air India spokesperson, however, claimed that the airline had more experience in international flying and had taken into consideration market potential of the route before starting the services. 

According to an analyst, the fact that other Indian operators have either moved out or delayed services to this route may work to Air India’s advantage.

“This is a good time for Air India to start the SFO route as it will be able to capitalise on the void created by Jet Airways, which discontinued its services to SFO, and Kingfisher, which has delayed plans for this route,” the analyst said.

Industry estimates peg the number of travellers flying to SFO from India for business, leisure or personal reasons at around 40,000.

Air India will be competing against a number of American and other foreign carriers such as United Airlines, Delta Airlines and Singapore Airlines, which connect SFO to various cities in India.

The Air India spokesperson said, “With our superior aircraft and convenient timings, we will offer an excellent product. We are also confident of getting desirable load factors.”