Air India's New Long-Haul Routes: Bangalore to San Francisco & Hyderabad to Chicago

Real World Aviation
#1

Air India will fly Bangalore to San Francisco & Hyderabad to Chicago

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This was very unexpected. Air India has announced two new major long-haul routes:

Bangalore (BLR) to San Francisco (SFO):

  • Starting January 11, 2021, Air India will launch flights between Bangalore/Bengaluru and San Francisco, becoming the first airline to connect India’s tech hub with North America.

  • This flight will operate twice a week on the Boeing 777-200LR.

  • Most notably, Air India is now the third carrier to announce flights from Bangalore to the United States. American Airlines was supposed to be the first carrier to fly from the U.S. to Bangalore with Seattle to Bangalore, but they pushed it to Winter 2021. United is planning to launch San Francisco to Bangalore in May 2021, but Air India has beat them to the route.

  • At 8,701 miles, Bangalore to San Francisco is now Air India’s longest route and it’s one of the world’s top 10 longest flights in terms of distance.

  • San Francisco is Bangalore’s number one unserved destination in the United States with around 126,000 passengers each year. Bangalore is expected to complement Air India’s existing Delhi to San Francisco service.

Hyderabad (HYD) to Chicago O-Hare (ORD)

  • In my opinion, this is the more surprising route. From January 15, 2021, Air India will launch nonstop service from Hyderabad to Chicago. This is the first nonstop service from Hyderabad to North America.

  • Hyderabad to Chicago is around 8,263 miles. This flight will operate once a week on the 777-200LR.

  • This new flight will complement Air India’s existing Delhi to Chicago flight.

Source/Image Credits

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/air-india-to-start-hyderabad-chicago-and-bengaluru-san-francisco-nonstops-in-the-new-year/articleshow/79413477.cms?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=TOIBusinessNews

Image credits: https://www.airplane-pictures.net/photo/784545/vt-alf-air-india-boeing-777-200lr/

Overall, these are two surprising routes during these times. The India to U.S. market will grow significantly next year with United launching Chicago to Delhi, SFO to Bangalore, American launching Seattle to Bangalore, and now Air India’s two new routes.

What are your thoughts on these new routes?

34 Likes
#2

yaayayayayyayayyaa I’m going to throw my phone out of the window now!

11 Likes
#3

Are you gonna pay for it? xD

2 Likes
#4

I love how:

American: We’re going to be the first to fly to BLR!

United: Not today

Air India: Hold my glass

8 Likes
#5

Ohh! VOBL to KSFO! Not bad

1 Like
#6

Interesting routes I must say.

I must say I’m a bit surprised they haven’t started a flight to LAX

4 Likes
#7

YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES

BLR TO SFO AGAIN!!!

First United, now AI. Wooooohooooo

5 Likes
#8

@TylerShah they have flights to KSEA I think

#9

AA are moving most of their international flights at LAX to SEA. UA has a hub in SFO, nor to mention that the Indian population in San Francisco Bay Area is more than of the population in LAX. Most of the LAX folks connect through SFO if they have to go to Delhi.

2 Likes
#10

there is a pretty big Indian population in LA area too

1 Like
#11

I will give you the Nokia ;)

3 Likes
#12

Not as much as San Francisco. Not to mention, LAX is super full and the costs of operating there would be more than SFO.

That’s why it’s much easier to connect to SFO, especially for AI. Most of the demand for BLR is from SFO and AI can take advantage of the fact that it’s Star Alliance dominated in SF. However, I still think UA will outperform AI here… only 9 of AI’s 370+ routes were profitable earlier, I don’t know how much they’ve recovered by

1 Like
#13

Honestly it’s hilarious

And everyone thought Bangalore would be the third city in India to receive a nonstop to the U.S. but if Hyderabad begins on time it’ll become the third city.

3 Likes
#14

@DhruvChopra and @Rohan_Mehrotra are going to fly these routes daily in IF even if they are twice a week.

5 Likes
#15

This is cool, I think a lot of people don’t realize how big the India to US market actually is. For a while most of the service was via the Middle East (Emirates, Qatar, etc.) so it’s nice to see more nonstops

2 Likes
#16

And me I will do these route every day @Rohan625

1 Like
#17

Lol I found another one. It’s @Captainflight

#18

Its either Via Europe or Middle East yea

1 Like
#19

I don’t know how they are going to manage those flights with only 3 200LRs. I wish they had at least 5 of them.

1 Like
#20

I guess with SFO-BLR only at twice weekly, they can utilize all three efficiently?

At 8,200 miles, could HYD-ORD operate on the 777-300ER?

Maybe some other routes are switching from the -200LR to other aircraft?

1 Like