Bangalore: India's leading private carrier Kingfisher Airlines plans to launch from Nov 1 its direct flight from Bangalore to San Francisco, connecting this IT hub with the Silicon Valley, its chief executive Vijay Mallya said here Tuesday evening.

"We will launch our direct flight to San Francisco from Nov 1, connecting the Silicon Valley in the US with India's IT hub. As there is an open-sky policy in the US, we will have no problem in getting operational clearances after we acquire more brand new Airbus aircraft (A330-200) for the long-haul flights," Mallya told IANS.

Kingfisher is making its international debut Wednesday with a non-stop daily flight on the Bangalore-London route.

Bangalore is home to about 1,600 IT firms, including over 600 multinational firms, generating huge international inbound and outbound air traffic from corporates, business and leisure travellers round the year.

According to industry estimates, about 12,000 passengers fly between Bangalore and San Francisco every month. In the absence of direct flights between the two 'Silicon Valleys', majority of travellers are forced to take connecting flights from Mumbai, New Delhi or Chennai and vice-versa.

"We have five brand-new Airbus aircraft to roll out our international operations from Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad and other metros. Once we complete the statutory formalities, we will roll out direct flights to Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai and Maldives in the coming months," Mallya affirmed.

With the recent merger of Kingfisher and budget carrier Air Deccan, Mallya has the largest fleet of Airbus aircraft to operate on the lucrative international routes and across metros in the domestic market.

"We will operate a mix of Airbus aircraft in commensurate with the traffic density. We will use either A330-200 or A-321 on overseas routes depending upon demand, passenger profile and connectivity," Mallya noted.

Though overseas air traffic is growing at 15-16 percent annually, 70 percent of the demand is serviced by international airlines, with the balance 30 percent shared by state-run Air India and the country's leading private carrier Jet Airways, which launched its international flights last year.