United Airlines is to operate a daily non-stop service between Bengaluru and San Francisco in the spring of next year, making it the first non-stop service between the two cities, the American carrier said in a statement.

In addition, the airline will fly daily between Chicago and Delhi from December this year.

The airline has not yet given a date for the launch of its Bengaluru service.

Air India too had plans to start non-stop services between Bengaluru and San Francisco but they never materialised.

In July 2007, V Thulasidas, then Chairman and Managing Director, Air India, had told the media that the airline had decided to mount additional fuel tanks on the last two of the 8 Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft that the airline had ordered, helping them to fly non-stop between Bengaluru and San Francisco carrying 238 passengers in first, business and economy classes.

AI eventually sold the five aircraft to Etihad Airways in 2013 and the West Asian carrier announced that it was acquiring five of AI’s eight Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft and will be using them to launch services to Los Angeles.

At the moment Air India operates non-stop services to San Francisco from Delhi.