Air India bummer: After end to non-stop flights between Bengaluru and San Francisco, what options do passengers have?
Air India will discontinue non-stop services between Bengaluru and San Francisco by the end of February 2026, disconnecting Silicon Valley and the IT capital of the world from India’s Silicon Valley. In February 2020, American Airlines announced that it would connect Seattle to Bengaluru starting in October that year. Within weeks, almost the entire world went into quarantine. Amid the pandemic, United Airlines announced its longest flight ever between San Francisco and Bengaluru starting 2021. Neither took off at all; instead, Air India, then a state-owned airline, launched flights between the two IT hubs in January 2021 under the air bubble agreement. The route was suspended in early 2022, but the Russia-Ukraine war continued and, seeing American aircraft carriers away from Russian airspace with additional airworthy aircraft, Air India reinstated the route.
During the 12 months till September, just under 1,50,000 passengers flew between the two cities (including both directions). Air India currently operates three times a week on this route and offers 344 seats per flight, comprising First (four), Business (35 seats) and Economy (305 seats). Air India carried close to 14,000 passengers (two-way) on this route in the July-September quarter and over 63,000 passengers for the 12 months to September 2025, or around 43% of total traffic; the rest preferred one-stop options.
Why did Air India stop its Bengaluru-San Francisco flights?
The root of the problem is the lack of planes. Bengaluru-San Francisco is one of the longest routes in the world and the aircraft of choice when the route begins is the B777-200LR. Air India had three ex-B777-200LRs in its fleet and five more ex-Delta Air Lines B777-200LRs have been added. Not all older models and two older Delta planes are out of the fleet. The airline was likewise unable to extend its leases. Older Delta planes were passenger favorites as they had significantly better interiors and experience compared to old Air India B777s. Air India technically stopped flights to San Francisco (for refueling) after April 2025, when Pakistani airspace was closed to Indian operators. Currently, the Bengaluru-San Francisco flight operates via Delhi, while the return stop is in Kolkata. This not only saves time by eliminating the advantage of a non-stop flight, but also makes it less attractive for passengers and more costly for the airline as it requires another landing and takeoff.
The Bengaluru-San Francisco route is very popular among IT professionals and VFR traffic (Visiting Friends and Relatives) as elderly parents visiting family in the Bay Area can fly effortlessly without connecting to major hubs in Europe, which is the other way to reach San Francisco.
What options do travelers have now?
Air India is withdrawing flights from Mumbai and Bengaluru but increasing its service from Delhi to 10 flights a week from the current seven. Passengers flying from Bengaluru are offered a two-way connection via Delhi. However, while the current operation in Delhi has come to a halt, the migration process has been completed in Bengaluru and this will not be the case after March 2026. On the outbound, passengers from Bengaluru will fly with a single stop via Delhi, while on the return, passengers will have a technical stopover in Vienna, after which they will need to complete immigration and customs formalities in Delhi before connecting to Bengaluru.
This creates opportunities for European carriers such as British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, Air France and KLM, which have flights to Bengaluru and operations to San Francisco with connections from their European hubs. This also helps Emirates and Qatar Airways, which are seen by many travelers as better hubs for transfers through their European hubs. Lufthansa increased its capacity to Bengaluru with flights from Munich after the pandemic.
Next month will see Air India complete four years under the Tata group, and its expansion appears to have not gone as planned, partly due to supply chain issues delaying deliveries. But it will be time for the airline to introspect.
Tail Note
Pakistan is extending the closure of its airspace by a month at a time. One wonders if this will be available anytime soon. With carriers’ expansion plan from India strong, particularly Air India, Indian carriers will need to invest in something similar to Project Sunrise, which Qantas has undertaken to enable non-stop flights from Sydney and Melbourne to destinations in Europe and the UK. This comes at a cost and passengers must be able to afford the pricing passed on to the end consumer.
All eyes are now on the Russia-Ukraine war. If it stops soon, United will be given the opportunity to fly to Bengaluru, which it cannot do without stopping or using Russian airspace. In such a situation, the market established by Air India will be served on a silver platter.
Author Ameya Joshi is an aviation analyst.
