India’s major private carrier, Jet Airways has announced the launch of a daily flight from Mumbai to San Francisco via Shanghai. The company officials informed that the Mumbai-San Francisco flight via Shanghai will be launched from May 5, subject to government approval.

The company claims that the proposed flight will cut down on flying time between India and the US and will tap into latent passenger demand. The flight will cater to both business and leisure travelers.

San Francisco, incidentally, is home to the largest China town in the United States.

With the launch of San Francisco flight from May 5, Jet Airways will become the first Indian carrier to operate a non-stop daily flight to Shanghai from country's financial hub of Mumbai and onwards to San Francisco.

The company will also become the first private Indian airline to connect Mumbai and San Francisco. The airline also plans to launch a flight between New Delhi and Abu Dhabi.
 
Jet Airways launched its operations to the Gulf in January 2008 and currently flies to four destinations in the region- Kuwait, Bahrain, Muscat and Doha. Introduction of services to Abu Dhabi will take the number of destinations it covers in the Gulf to five.