Air India Mulls Direct Flights to Washington DC

India’s national carrier Air India is considering a direct flight to Washington D.C.

Air India used to operate a flight to Washington D.C. via New York but discontinued the service a few years back.

Also under consideration at the struggling airline are flights to more U.S. cities from various metros in India.

Air India now flies directly to three U.S. cities (New York, Newark and Chicago) and is preparing to add San Francisco to its route map.

San Francisco Flight

Air India’s direct flight to San Francisco starts December 2, 2015.

With a flight time of nearly 17 hours, the Delhi-San Francisco flight will use Air India’s B77-200LR plane.

There’s a huge population of Indians in the Bay Area given its proximity to Silicon Valley.

The San Francisco flight will leave Delhi on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday while the return service will be on Thursday, Saturday and Monday.

The flight will have a three-cabin configuration with eight seats in first class, 35 in business and 195 in economy.

Passengers from Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi, Ahmedabad and Pune are supposed to get a convenient connection to the San Francisco flight from Delhi.

But given Air India’s reputation for poor service, it remains to be seen whether the initial euphoria over the Delhi-San Francisco flight can be sustained.