Since the closure of Afghanistan’s airspace, Air India operates flights from to Western countries through the Hindu Kush route cutting flight time by one hour and saving five tonnes of fuel. For Indian carriers, the Hindu Kush route will be a very economical operation in comparison to the traditional route via Afghanistan. After creating a record of flying non-stop San Fransisco-Bengaluru flight over the North Pole, Captain Zoya Agarwal has created another new for the Tata-owned Air India. Captain Zoya piloted an Air India aircraft over the ‘Hindu Kush’ mountain range, one of the world’s highest routes to North America and Europe, cutting flight time and saving fuel.
“This route is challenging since it is the highest route to fly in the world, there are many challenging procedures that you will have to complete in case of any emergency or technical issue and all the procedures are well thought out and are employed keeping safety paramount. In case anything goes wrong we are flying over the Hindu Kush region which is the highest area to fly in all over the world, the crew is prepared to handle the situation” one of the four pilots told ANI. Captain Zoya Agarwal, who is the only woman pilot in the group, created history by flying the first North Pole (San Francisco to Bengaluru) flight. “First woman commander to be a Part of 4-member cockpit crew that operated B777 call sign ‘VT-ALQ Manipur’ Toronto-Delhi flying over the Hindu Kush ranges on December 16 who also was the first to operate SFO-BLR inaugural taking the polar route on January 9, 2022, on a B777 ‘ER-ALQ Kerala’,” airline officials informed.
