Air India to become first Indian airline to fly over North Pole

On the occasion of 73rd Independence Day 2019, National carrier Air India will become the first Indian airline to fly over the North Pole. Its Delhi-San Francisco flight will take the route saving 2,000 to 7,000 kg of fuel and reducing the carbon emissions by 6,000 to 21,000 kg, per flight. It will fly over Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, the Arctic Ocean, Canada, and then enter the United States. Therefore, this new route will bring down the distance travelled from 12,000 km to 8,000 km approximately & will also reduce flight time on an average by 30 minutes. The inaugural passenger flight to San Francisco will be piloted by Captain Rajneesh Sharma and Captain Digvijay Singh on August 15. Because of India’s geographic position, Air India will also become the only airline in the world to take all the three routes — the Atlantic, Pacific and Polar.