Air India to launch Bengaluru-San Francisco flight with custom checks in city
Air India seems to have pulled off a coup of sorts akin to what Etihad Airways did with the US immigration and customs authorities.
Etihad will now have a direct competition in Air India with the latter too introducing flight services from Bengaluru to San Franci sco with the American officials offering immigration and custom clearance checks at the Bengaluru airport itself. Air India will commence its services from Bengaluru to San Francisco via New Delhi on December 2.
It is to be seen how Bengalureans will respond to the Air India’s new offering as there is a Delhi stopover in between and the flight from Delhi to San Francisco will be one of the longest. There is a huge traffic between Bengaluru and San Francisco as they are bonded by information technology and have common offices. An estimated 1.5 million people are working in the IT & BPO sectors in Bengaluru.
In fact, Etihad Airways, UAE’s national carrier, which connects Bengaluru with San Franciso via Abu Dhabi was the first to pull off such a coup with the US authorities by opening immigration and customs counters at the Abu Dhabi airport. The travel from Abu Dhabi and San Francisco on the Etihad flight feels like domestic journey as there are no formalities to complete on arrival at San Francisco.
According to Air India, Flight AI-173 from Bengaluru to Delhi will depart on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 2115 hours with an A321 aircraft. The flight will arrive in Delhi at 2345 hours. Flight AI-173 to San Francisco will leave Delhi on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 0235 hours and will be operated with B777-200LR aircraft.
This flight will arrive into San Francisco at 0700 hours (local time) on the same day. The return flight will depart at 10.30 hours and arrive at Delhi next day (Thursdays, Saturdays and Mondays) and at 16.20 hours; depart to Bengaluru to arrive at 17.45 hours by Airbus A321 aircraft.
