The national carrier's AI-174 between San Francisco and Delhi made history, flying around the globe with an all-women crew, when it touched down in Terminal 3 of its destination airport.
The flight AI-173 had earlier taken off from Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in New Delhi to San Francisco on February 26, covering a distance of around 15,300 km in 15.5 hours over the Pacific route and Atlantic routes.
The operation was helmed by experienced pilot Captain Sunita Narula, Captain Kshamta Bajpai, Captain Indira Singh and Captain Gunjan Aggarwal. The all-women eight-member cabin crew was led by Seema Baberwal and Nishrin Bandukwala.
The flight was operated by the women staff from eight departments. These included cockpit crew, cabin crew, check-in staff, doctor, customer care Staff, ATC and the entire ground handling team—from operator to technician, engineer, flight dispatcher and trimmer.
Line operation safety audit was done by Harpreet Singh, Executive Director of Flight Safety. This is the first time that such audit is being done by a female officer for around-the-world trip, Air India said in a statement.
