mumbai sources reported that Air india Western Region Director mukesh Bhatia said the first commercial service will be operated by Captain Ranjeesh Sharma and Captain Digvijay Singh, marking the “maturing of civil aviation in india as another frontier is crossed”. Meanwhile Air india had conquered this frontier in 2007, when Captain Amitabh Singh currently, Director (Operations) flew a Boeing 777 over the polar region. He had taken delivery of the brand new aircraft and flew it over the North Pole from Seattle to New delhi, going in the record books as the first Indian pilot to notch this feat.
mukesh Bhatia said on the new Polar flight route “Passengers will benefit from the reduced fuel consumption and a better environment from the reduced carbon emissions”. Air india is in a unique position to offer direct (non-stop) flights between india and North America, but the Polar route between the two countries has not yet been exploited. Bhatia added “Situated on opposite sides of the Northern Hemisphere, india and North America would benefit immensely by using existing North Polar routes for commercial air operations”.
The AI already has flights to the US from the Atlantic and Pacific routes as part of its endeavor to conserve fuel, slash travel time, improve aircraft utility and reduce carbon emissions. According to AI, the fuel saving on the Polar route is expected to be in the region of 02 to 07 tonnes with a resultant decrease in carbon emission of 06 to 21 tonnes per flight, and is part of the initiative of the Fuel Conservation Committee of the airline.
