An all-woman cockpit crew flew from San Francisco to Bengaluru on January 9. They being captains Zoya Aggarwal, Papagari Thanmei, Akansha Sonaware, Shivani Manhas.
It’s the longest commercial flight in the world, operated by Air India, and travelled 16,000 km to reach its destination in its inaugural flight.
Air India’s woman power flies high around the world.
All women cockpit crew consisting of Capt Zoya Aggarwal, Capt Papagari Thanmai, Capt Akansha Sonaware & Capt Shivani Manhas will operate the historic inaugural flight between Bengaluru & San Francisco.@airindiain @MoCA_GoI pic.twitter.com/HKT6IYo2Dw
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) January 9, 2021
It went over North Pole and took the Atlantic route to reach Bengaluru.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri was ecstatic in his tweet: “Air India’s woman power flies high around the world.”
The flight was commanded by Captain Zoya Aggarwal. She has flight experience of over 8,000 hours. She has been flying for over 10 years.
Today, we created world history by not only flying over the North Pole but also by having all women pilots who successfully did it. We are extremely happy and proud to be part of it. This route has saved 10 tonnes of fuel: Captain Zoya Aggarwal at Bengaluru airport https://t.co/wRyNNKC4GJ pic.twitter.com/q8jZgB6HBt
— ANI (@ANI) January 10, 2021
It was a Boeing 777-200LR aircraft with a seating capacity of 238 out of which 235 were booked. It saved 10 tonnes of fuel.
It will be a biweekly flight and would take off from San Francisco for Bengaluru on Tuesdays and Saturdays. It would leave for San Francisco from Bengaluru on Mondays and Thursdays.
