Air India creates record by flying an all-women crew flight

Mar 04, 2017: Air India recently operated a flight around the world with an all-women crew setting a new world record, ahead of International Women’s Day. The AI 173 flight which departed from India on February 27 for San Francisco, returned at the Indira Gandhi International airport on Friday after flying across the globe.

The flight covered a distance of around 15300 km in fifteen and a half hours over the Pacific route and on the return journey from San Francisco over the Atlantic. The flight was in the safe hands of Captain Sunita Narula, Captain Kshamta Bajpai, Captain Indira Singh and Captain Gunjan Aggarwal.

Air India is the first Indian carrier to operate on the Pacific route which has reduced the flying time by up to three hours.

Apart from the cockpit and cabin crew, check-in and ground handling staff, and engineers who certified the aircraft were all women, Air India said.

Celebrating the International Women’s Day which is observed on March 8 every year, Air India has decided to operate similar ‘all-women’ flights on its domestic and international routes.