Air India considers direct flights to San Francisco, Toronto

State-run airline also plans to re-configure its Boeing 777-200 LR planes to cater to proposed services

National carrier Air India is mulling to launch direct flight services from here to San Francisco and Toronto this winters following removal of restrictions on the domestic carriers to expand their operations in the US after safety upgrade by the FAA.

The state-run airline also plans to re-configure its Boeing 777-200 LR planes to cater to these proposed services, airline sources told PTI.

At present, Air India operates flights to New York and Chicago.

"We are planning to introduce direct flights services to San Francisco and Toronto from the Winter schedule this year. A firm plan, however, is still being worked out," they said.

The airline proposed to fly three weekly flights each to San Francisco and Toronto from New Delhi with a B777-200 LR aircraft, which is likely to be reconfigured for more seating capacity, they said.

Air India had earlier also planned to operate its services to the US West Coast city, which has the second largest population of Indians in America and which remains unconnected by any direct or one stop-service by the Indian Airlines. However, the plan failed to take off for one reason or the other.

Air India also used to operate a non-stop flight to Toronto from the national capital, which it suspended in 2012 after incurring huge losses on the route.