Air India is planning to start a direct flight between Ahmedabad and London, an A-I official said. They are also gearing to begin the world's longest non-stop commercial flight – linking India's IT hotspot Bengaluru with San Francisco in US. Once the plan materialises it would be the world's longest non-stop commercial flight since the two cities are almost 14,000 km apart. At present the longest non-stop commercial flight is operated by Australian airliner Qantas between Dallas Fort Worth in the US and Sydney which is a 13,730 km journey.
Next year, UAE's mega carrier Emirates will link Dubai with Panama City, a distance of 13,760 km. Avoiding the war zones of Iraq and Syria will lead to diversions that will increase the length of the journey.
“We are planning to have a non-stop from either Delhi or Bengaluru to San Francisco on our Boeing 777-200 long range aircraft. We are also planning a direct service between Ahmedabad and London,” said an AI official. If it opts for Bengaluru-San Francisco link, the flying time will be almost 17 to 18 hours for the world's longest non-stop commercial. The announcement for the same could be made when PM Modi travels to Silicon Valley later this week.
