Mumbai: Air India will become the first Indian carrier to fly over the North Pole enroute the United States of America.
The sought-after Delhi San Francisco flight will operate through the polar route to save travel time and fuel.
At present, wide-body Boeing 777 flight takes the Pacific route to travel to San Francisco and the Atlantic route in the return direction. It is one of the longest haul flights in the aviation world, covering the distance in roughly about 15 hours.
“Passengers will benefit from the reduced fuel consumption and a better environment from the reduced carbon emissions,” said Air India Western Region Director Mukesh Bhatia while addressing the media here.
The fuel SAVING on the Polar route is expected to be in the region of 2 to 7 tonnes. The flying time will come down by one-and-half-hours.
The challenges:
1. The polar region, even if widely used now, lacks in infrastructure and logistical support.
2. “The area of magnetic unreliability, limited choices for diversion to alternative airports, solar radiation, fuel freezing, passenger and aircraft retrieval in case of diversions, are some specific factors requiring active mitigation to ensure equivalent levels of safety,” Bhatia said.
Air India has hired a Diversion Support Agency to assist the aircraft in emergency situations
