To celebrate International Women's day, which falls on March 8, Air India, the country's national carrier airline, on Sunday operated the longest all-women crew flight from New Delhi to San Francisco.
Said to be a first-of-its-kind flight, 17-hour long flight had an all women staff including cabin crew, cockpit crew, doctor, customer care staff and also the ground staff including the operator, technician, engineer, flight dispatcher and trimmer.
The flight,AI 173, will return to New Delhi on Tuesday.
Flying the 'all women flt on DEL-SFO route' #AI173, #AI has set a #WorldRecord! More such flts to take off on #IWD16 pic.twitter.com/HnFSgpgShc
— Air India (@airindiain) March 6, 2016
#AirIndia's all women crew celebrating the proud moment before longest flt DEL-SFO's take-off! #WorldRecord #IWD2016 pic.twitter.com/9m2i1pZdjv
— Air India (@airindiain) March 5, 2016
Captain Shubhangi Singh told Hindustan Times, “You need to work hard. There is no shortcut to success. I come from a modest family, and without any aviation background. I am overwhelmed to be a part of an all-women crew in the history of aviation. It’s a long flight covering various countries; there are several procedures that we’d have to keep in mind."
Air India will also operate 20 all-women crew flights in domestic routes on March 8.
Saurabh Gupta, the airline's public relations officer, told IANS on Sunday, "Air India will be flying 20 all women domestic flights on March 8 to commemorate International Women's Day. The details regarding their routes and timings are expected to be disclosed by Monday evening."
Air India, was the first carrier in the world to operate an all-women crew in 1985.
Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani had earlier said that the flight to San Francisco on March 6 would be a symbol of "women empowerment". "It will be a historic flight and the longest to be operated by all-women crew," Lohani said.
The state-run airline has around 3,800 women workforce of the total 27,500 people with 20,500 of them regular.
Every year, Air India operates all-women flights to celebrate the international women's day.
All images source: Air India/Facebook