India’s flagship carrier, Air India has set a world record after its Delhi-San Francisco flight completed its journey in less than 15 hours last week. The 15,300 kilometres long non-stop journey clocked a world record of 14 hours and 30 minutes.
Air India now holds a world record for operating the longest non-stop flight. Here is what Air India tweeted:
#AI covers the longest distance from DEL to SFO in a record time. Watch what Capt Rajneesh Sharma has to say on this https://t.co/epHNGAt3eN
— Air India (@airindiain) October 23, 2016
According to a report by The Times of India, Air India took Pacific Ocean route instead of flying over the Atlantic Ocean. The new route is almost 1,400 km longer but it takes two hours less in comparison to the older route. The reason behind the increased speed is that wind flows in the same direction as of the aircraft which makes it fly faster.
Authorities say that flying through the new route will also reduce fuel costs.
“The aircraft took off from Delhi at 4 am on Sunday (October 16) morning. We were in that date till Japan. After that, we crossed the international date line and were in October 15. By the time we landed in San Francisco, it was 6.30 am on October 16 (local time in SFO),” one of the pilots told The Times of India.
(Feature image source: Reuters)
