A team of 4 women pilots of Air India has created a new history by flying over the North Pole, the world’s longest air route. The team of women pilots arrived at Kempegowda International Airport in Bangalore via North Pole after taking off from San Francisco, USA on Sunday. A distance of about 16,000 km was covered during this journey. This information has been given by the news agency ANI.
Air India was greeted with its Twitter handle as soon as the flight landed in India. Air India tweeted and wrote, ‘Welcome home, we are proud of you all (women pilots). We also congratulate the passengers of AI176, who became a part of this historic journey. ‘ Explain that the aircraft was run entirely by women pilots, including Captain Zoya Aggarwal, Capt Papagari Tanmai, Capt Shivani and Capt Akanksha Sonvare. The aircraft was being carried by Lead Captain Zoya Aggarwal.
Today, we created world history by not only flying over the North Pole but also by having all women pilots who successfully did it. We are extremely happy and proud to be part of it. This route has saved 10 tonnes of fuel: Captain Zoya Aggarwal at Bengaluru airport https://t.co/wRyNNKC4GJ pic.twitter.com/q8jZgB6HBt
– ANI (@ANI) January 10, 2021
After landing at the Bengaluru airport, Captain Zoya Aggarwal said, “Today we have created a world history not only by flying to the North Pole but also by women pilots successfully doing it.” We are very happy and proud to be a part of it. This route has saved 10 tonnes of fuel.
It was an exciting experience since it was never done before. It took almost 17 hours to reach here: Shivani Manhas, one of the four pilots who operated Air India’s inaugural San Francisco-Bengaluru flight pic.twitter.com/4L8mMFchbX
– ANI (@ANI) January 11, 2021
Pilot Shivani, one of the team that operated the inaugural flight of Air India to San Francisco-Bengaluru, said it was an exciting experience, as it had never happened before. It took about 17 hours to reach here. Let me tell you that from this time onwards, Air India itself was giving information about its location from time to time through its Twitter handle. Not only this, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri also tweeted about this.
The historic all woman cockpit crew polar flight from San Francisco to Bengaluru makes Vande Bharat Mission even more special.
The mission has so far facilitated international travel of more than 46.5 lakh people.
We continue to reach out to more with 24 air bubbles. pic.twitter.com/4WOt2eLbvp
– Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) January 10, 2021
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri wrote in his tweet, ‘This historic journey from San Francisco to Bangalore makes the Vanda Bharat Mission even more special because of the women pilots. The mission has so far facilitated international travel of over 46.5 lakh people. Significantly, Air India pilots have also flown on the polar route in the past, but this is the first time that a female pilot team has flown to the North Pole.
According to Air India sources, flight number AI-176 left San Francisco on Saturday at 8:30 pm (local time) and arrived here at 3:45 am Monday. Air India tweeted, ‘Imagine this: -All female cockpit members- Longest flight to India- Pass through North Pole and it’s all happening! Records broken. History created by AI-176. AI-176 is flying at an altitude of thirty thousand feet. ‘
