Air India becomes the first commercial Indian airline to venture into North Pole

On August 15, while India was celebrating its Independence Day, not many were aware of the fact that a historical trip was being made by the centrally-owned Air India airlines.
News has it that an Air India flight made its maiden trip over the North Pole on August 15. It has set a record by becoming the first Indian commercial airline to enter the polar sphere of the earth. Reportedly, the flight from Air India Delhi to San Francisco usually takes the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean route, but made an exception on August 15 by flying 0 degrees north.

According to the news reports, the Air India operations team had devised two flight plans. The team was ready to face closure of Pakistan airspace to Indian flights on Aug 15. With that in mind, the operations team had prepared to take a different route by flying the airplane over the Strait of Hormuz to reach the North Pole.

The flight Al173 to San Francisco flew from New Delhi with about 243 passengers at 4 AM. By 12:27 PM, it had covered Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and the North Pole. Capt Rajneesh Sharma and his team, featuring Capt Digvijay Singh with first officers Capt Karan Aggarwal and Capt Siddesh Dadarkar, were present on the flight deck.

Capt Rajneesh Sharma was reported sharing his unique experience. He told TOI that there was no air traffic behind after the flight crossed Russia. For about nine hours, there was no air traffic in sight with just the vast expanse of snow in view. Currently, no country legally owns the North Pole though Russia, Canada and Denmark have claimed ownership of the Lomonosov Ridge that falls under the territory of the North Pole.