Plans for the world’s longest non-stop passenger flight have been disclosed by Air India.
The carrier wants to run a 8,700-mile, 18-hour service between Delhi and San Francisco from December 2.
The airline revealed plans for three direct flights a week to California using a Boeing 777 in a move which coincided with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi visiting Silicon Valley at the weekend.
Air India claimed that the planned route to San Francisco would boost traffic and business between homegrown talent and the large Indian community in California.
The service has yet to be confirmed by regulators and the airline’s board of directors, and some observers have questioned whether it would be profitable, the Times reported.
The current longest commercial flight is the 8,570-mile route flown by Qantas between Sydney and Dallas.
That is set to be surpassed next year, when Emirates starts an 8,590-mile service linking Dubai with Panama.