AI to fly Delhi-san Francisco over North Pole

MUMBAI: Marking a new aviation milestone, the Air India (AI) on Monday announced its inaugural passenger flight over the North Pole region from August 15 between New Delhi and San Francisco.

The first commercial service will be operated by Captain Ranjeesh Sharma and Captain Digvijay Singh, marking the “maturing of civil aviation in India as another frontier is crossed”, said Air India Western Region Director Mukesh Bhatia.

Air India had conquered this frontier in 2007, when Captain Amitabh Singh — currently, Director (Operations) — flew a Boeing 777 over the polar region. He had taken delivery of the brand new aircraft and flew it over the North Pole from Seattle to New Delhi, going in the record books as the first Indian pilot to notch this feat.

“Passengers will benefit from the reduced fuel consumption and a better environment from the reduced carbon emissions,” Mukesh Bhatia said on the new Polar flight route.

Air India is in a unique position to offer direct (non-stop) flights between India and North America, but the Polar route between the two countries has not yet been exploited.

“Situated on opposite sides of the Northern Hemisphere, India and North America would benefit immensely by using existing North Polar routes for commercial air operations,” Bhatia added.

The AI already has flights to the US from the Atlantic and Pacific routes as part of its endeavour to conserve fuel, slash travel time, improve aircraft utility and reduce carbon emissions.

According to AI, the fuel saving on the Polar route is expected to be in the region of 02 to 07 tonnes with a resultant decrease in carbon emission of 06 to 21 tonnes per flight, and is part of the initiative of the Fuel Conservation Committee of the airline.

The North Pole region has given airlines an opportunity to reach destinations previously not available for non-stop services and reduce flying times on existing routes and city pairs, he pointed out.

Increasing use of these route has resulted in major improvements in areas of aviation infrastructure like communications, air traffic control, and services supplies at remote airports. — IANS