NEW DELHI: On the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Silicon Valley , Air India has announced a non-stop flight between Delhi and San Francisco from December 2. This will be the only non-stop link between India and the west coast of America. TOI had reported last Monday that AI was planning this flight which will be announced when the PM is in west coast.

An AI statement said: "San Francisco will become Air India’s fourth destination in the United States. Air India operates daily non-stop flights to New York (JFK), Newark (EWR) and Chicago (ORD)." The new flight will make travel seamless for the large Indian community in the valley.

"Passengers from seven cities, all IT hubs, in India i.e Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Ahmedabad and Pune will have seamless connections to the flight from Delhi. Likewise, the return flight from San Francisco will provide onward connections to nine cities i.e. Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Pune and Bhubaneswar," AI said.

The flight to and from San Francisco will operate three days a week,on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The Delhi-San Francisco flight will have a convenient early morning departure and arrival. The return flight will have an early morning departure from San Francisco and arrive in Delhi in the afternoon. The flight will offer a 3-cabin configuration, with 8 seats in First Class, 35 seats in Business Class and 195 seats in Economy Class. AI used to have a Delhi-Frankfurt-Los Angeles connection which it stopped about six years back due to poor loads.