Air India to fly Delhi-San Francisco thrice weekly

At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the US, the Air India on Sunday announced it was starting the only non-stop link with America's west coast with a flight between Delhi and San Francisco from December 2.

"San Francisco will become Air India's fourth destination in the United States. Air India operates daily non-stop flights to New York (JFK), Newark (EWR) and Chicago (ORD)," an Air India statement said.

The service is looking to cater to the large Indian community in America's Silicon Valley, where Modi paid a visit on Saturday.

"Passengers from seven cities, all IT hubs, in India - i.e Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Ahmedabad and Pune -will have seamless connections to the flight from Delhi. Likewise, the return flight from San Francisco will provide onward connections to nine cities, i.e. Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Pune and Bhubaneswar," the national carrier said.

The flight to and from San Francisco will operate three days a week, on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

The flight will offer a 3-cabin configuration, with eight first class seats, 35 in business class and 195 seats in economy class, the Air India said.

Air India earlier operated a Delhi-Frankfurt-Los Angeles connection which it stopped around six years back, owing to insufficient passenger loads.