National carrier Air India will become the first Indian airline to fly over the North Pole on Independence Day when its Delhi-San Francisco flight will take the route saving 2,000 to 7,000 kg of fuel and reducing the carbon emissions by 6,000 to 21,000 kg, per flight. Owing to India’s geographic position, Air India will also become the only airline in the world to take all the three routes — the Atlantic, Pacific and Polar.
The inaugural passenger flight to San Francisco will be piloted by Captain Rajneesh Sharma and Captain Digvijay Singh on August 15. It will fly over Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, the Arctic Ocean, Canada, and enter the U.S., thus reducing flight time on an average by 30 minutes.
The present route makes for a 17-hour flight and goes over Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, and Japan before it crosses the Pacific Ocean to enter the U.S..
Mr. Sharma said, “There are certain challenges in this route, but all safety measures, including approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), are in place.”
Earlier this month, aviation regulator DGCA came out with the requirements that need to the fulfilled by airlines for Polar operations.
Since the Polar route offers few airports in case of an emergency, Air India has roped in Global Aviation Consulting (GAC), an agency involved in providing cargo and commercial airlines with diversion planning and alternative airport support, to meet FAA’s Polar operation specification requirements.
“The GAC has been retained to assist in aircraft and passenger retrieval in case of diversion. A good support system in the form of ground staff is also in place to help us with the routes and weather monitoring,” Mr. Sharma said.
Air India officials termed it a win-win situation as passengers will benefit from the shortened flight times, the airline from less fuel consumption, and the environment from reduced carbon emissions. “Finally, the last bastion of flying over the North Pole will be covered,” Mr. Sharma said.
Giving concerns of solar radiations on the Polar routes, Air India’s dispatch team will monitor it with the NASA’s website and other international websites along with observing what other logical routes other airlines are using. Similarly, to avoid fuel freezing, the airline will not fly the aircraft at temperatures below minus 65 degrees Celsius.
“Solar radiation depends on the altitude at which you are travelling. All airlines taking the Polar route have strict instructions that Air India will also be complying with. It would not be a problem because solar radiations occur in a fixed cycle and they repeat every year. Our team will be monitoring this,” Mr. Sharma said.
Mukesh Bhatia, Air India’s director, western region, said while fuel savings could never be at the cost of passenger safety and comfort, a risk analysis had been conducted to ensure compliance on both before launching the flight. As per Mr. Bhatia, in 2007, the airline flew a Boeing 777 over the Polar region under the command of Captain Amitabh Singh, who is currently director of operations.
Crew members said Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) too will be in a better position as there will be a maximum of four people in the cockpit as per the normal FDTL norms.
Shorter flight
Atlantic route - 17.5 hours
Pacific route - 14.5 hours
Polar route savings - Will save between 5 and 70 minutes. So on an average, a little over 30 minutes will be saved.
