Air India flies Delhi-San Francisco nonstop over Pacific, and into record books

October 23, 2016 08:21

Flying Delhi to San Francisco over the Pacific Ocean instead of the Atlantic, as it had done till last week, has earned Air India the record of operating the world's longest nonstop flight.

The Pacific route is almost 1,400 km longer than the Atlantic one, and the flight covered 15,300 kilometres in 14.5 hours. Despite the route being longer, the flight took almost two hours less thanks to tailwinds -- winds that blow in the same direction as an aircraft and thus make it go faster.

At 13,900 km, the Atlantic route of AI's Delhi-SFO nonstop flight made it the world's second-longest after Emirates' Dubai-Auckland (14,120km). Now, AI's Pacific route will remain the world's longest nonstop for two years, till Singapore Airlines launches the mother of all direct flights -- Singapore-New York -- that will cover 16,500 km in 19 hours.

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