Tag Archives: San Francisco

United Airlines is set to introduce a new daily direct seasonal service between Delhi and San Francisco International starting December 7, 2019 – subject to government approval. The airline’s new route will be its third daily non-stop service from India in addition to the existing daily, year-round services from Mumbai and New Delhi to New York. Harvinder Singh, Country Manager, United Airlines, says, “This new flight strengthens our international route network and provides our customers from India with even greater travel choice, with connections from San Francisco to other destinations across the US and Canada. Connecting the Indian capital to the US west coast opens up new opportunities for both business and leisure travellers.” The revolutionary design of the Dreamliner offers customers many features for increased comfort such as large windows, spacious overhead storage and modern LED lighting to simulate a full day, helping passengers adjust their internal clock on the trans-Atlantic flight. In addition, a lower cabin altitude, cleaner air and smoother ride help customers feel rested on arrival.

Jet Airways and Virgin Atlantic have announced a further expansion of their codeshare agreement between India and the United States, which will make it even easier for guests to tailor their trip by combining flights from Jet Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Delta Air Lines in a single booking. From April 19, 2017, Jet Airways guests travelling between India and the United States can connect through London Heathrow on to nine US destinations operated by Virgin Atlantic; Atlanta, Boston, Newark, Washington (IAD), New York, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco and Seattle. This expansion builds on the existing agreement between Jet Airways and Virgin Atlantic in place since 2009 – enabling Virgin Atlantic guests to travel on Jet Airways operated services between Mumbai and London Heathrow in addition to the airline’s own direct Delhi to London service. In 2015, this codeshare was extended on to Jet Airways domestic services allowing Virgin Atlantic guests to travel between London Heathrow and five destinations across India via Delhi or Mumbai. Gaurang Shetty, Whole-time Director, Jet Airways, said, “Offering greater choice and connectivity to our guests has always been a hallmark of our network strategy. The new codeshares build on the success of our ongoing cooperation with Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic over London Heathrow and will provide our guests with more connectivity to and within the United States. Further, our loyalty program partnership will also enable the frequent flyers of both carriers to accrue and redeem their miles across each other’s entire network.”

Starting in April, Korean Air will increase its flight frequency between Incheon and major US cities on the West Coast during summer schedule, strengthening its routes to San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. Taking advantage of Korean Air’s newly launched direct flight to Delhi, together with its Mumbai flights, Indian customers can now enjoy widened flight options for traveling to the West Coast, transiting seamlessly at the airline’s world-class hub at Incheon. Korean Air representative for India said, “We are very positive about the expanding traveller sector in India, and we see that our flights to Delhi, launched in December last year, and also flights to Mumbai are well-received by the Indians. Furthermore, according to Brand USA, it is expected that Indian visitors’ number to US will increase by 72 per cent between 2015 and 2021, therefore we are confident on the growth of this market, especially on routes between India and the US West Coast.” “With our strong connectivity with the West Coast, we are committed to deliver our true ‘Excellence in Flight’ to all Indian travellers, offering them the best travel experience during the long haul. We hope to offer them the utmost in comfort with our convenient flight schedules and premium in-flight services, supported by the state-of-the-art transit facilities at the Incheon International Airport – Korean Air’s hub airport and one of the world’s top airports,” said Korean Air. Observed an increase in demand, Korean Air will increase the frequency of its flights to between Incheon and San Francisco on a gradual basis, starting from April 28th. From late April, flights will be increased from seven to 12 per week, and from September, flights will be further …

Air India scripted history by flying an all-women crew flight around the world. The flight AI 173 that took off from IGI Airport in Delhi on Feb 27 to San Francisco covering a distance of around 15300 km in 15 and a half hours over the Pacific route and on the return journey from San Francisco over the Atlantic. The flight was in the safe hands of Capt. Sunita Narula, Capt. Kshamta Bajpai, Capt. Indira Singh and Capt. Gunjan Aggarwal. The all-women cabin crew was led by Seema Baberwal and Nishrin Bandulwala. The entire flight was operated by the women staff of eight departments. These departments included Cockpit crew, Cabin crew, Check-In staff, Doctor, Customer Care Staff, ATC and the entire ground handling from operator to technician, Engineer and flight dispatcher and trimmer. Line operation safety audit was done by Harpreet A De Singh, ED Flight Safety, Air India. This is the first time that this audit was done by a female officer for around the world trip.

Air India set a record with its longest non-stop flight from Delhi to San Francisco. The Boeing 777-200 long range aircraft took the Pacific route instead of the Atlantic route, adding an additional 1400 km to the route but was completed in 14 and a half hours, two hours lesser than the conventional flight due to the helpful tailwinds. “From October 15, the flight which connected Delhi and San Francisco via the Atlantic route has begun operations on the Pacific route and returns on the Atlantic route, making it the only flight that goes around the world,” says Pankaj Srivastava, Director-Commercial and Board Member, Air India. This route also saved around 13 tons of fuel. Air India currently operates flights on the Delhi-San Francisco route three times a week but its growing popularity has prompted the airline to double this from November, flying east each time for the next six months. Inputs from: The Telegraph UK

Air India is planning to double its direct non-stop flights between Delhi and San Francisco (USA) from three times a week to daily in the winter schedule. According to a news report, a senior Air India official said, “This flight has clearly proved that it does not take years to develop a route. We are flying planes with average 88 per cent loads and are also meeting the total cost of the flight. We are going to make it a daily flight most likely from November.” Air India, which launched this flight last December, is the only airline that flies direct on this route. (Source: Economic Times)

Air India is set to commence operations on the Delhi-Washington DC route from April 2017, revealed Ashwani Lohani, CMD, Air India, while addressing a conference in New Delhi . “Air travel is crucial in making India more accessible to the rest of the world and therefore, we are aggressively looking into expansion,” he said. The new route marks the fifth direct air connection between India and the US for the national airline as it currently plies to New York, Chicago, Newark and San Francisco. Lohani also shared that plans to connect Hyderabad to the U.S. and other countries like Singapore and China are being looked into, and will also soon address the demand to connect Delhi and Mumbai to destinations like Los Angeles and Atlanta.

PATA India and the Ministry of Tourism’s (MOT) first leg of its five-city US roadshow begins today at San Francisco and will cover the West Coast. Imparting more details on the roadshow, Vikram Madhok, Hony. Treasurer, PATA India, said, “One of our mandates for PATA membership is to add value so we embark on roadshows across the world, primarily in the main feeder markets. Now, we are going back to the US and have more than 20 people from every segment participating. It’s going to begin from May 24 in San Francisco, May 25 in Los Angeles (Orange County), May 26 in Los Angeles (Beverly Hills), May 31 in Vancouver ending on June 1 in Seattle. Another roadshow in Europe is currently in the pipeline.”

PATA India Chapter, in collaboration with Ministry of Tourism, will be conducting a India Tourism B2B Meet to West Coast America from May 24 to June 1, 2016. Runeep Sangha, Executive Director, PATA India Chapter, informs, “Our proposal for this initiative has been approved by Ministry of Tourism. The focus of this event is to promote inbound tourism from important source markets for India. Meetings are proposed to be held with travel agents & tours operators in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver & Seattle. All these markets have a variety of travellers representing both, high end as well as mid market. Their interest in India as a preferred destination is well established over many years and is focused on our history, culture, wellness, beach tourism amongst others.” Roadshows will commence with a introductions and a 20 minute Incredible India presentation, followed by a two hour B2B session between Indian sellers and local tour operators & travel agents in each market. Tentative Programme Detailed itinerary is as follows: 1. May 24 -San Francisco 2. May 25 – Los Angeles (Orange County) 3. May 26 – Los Angeles (Beverly Hills) 4. May 31 – Vancouver 5. June 1 – Seattle Participation Fees For PATA Members participation fee is as follows: 1st Delegate: Rs. 57,500.00 + 14.5% Government Service Tax 2nd Delegate: Rs. 45,000.00 + 14.5% Government Service Tax For non PATA Members, the registration fee is as follows: Delegate fee: Rs. 67,500.00 + 14.5% Government Service Tax Air India will be support PATA India with preferred air fares for delegates participating in these roadshows. 100% of the basic fare will be waived on each ticket as per the applicable booking class for …