UK carrier Virgin Atlantic Airways has announced its return to the Indian city of Mumbai with a new daily operation from London Heathrow due to be introduced from October 28, 2012 providing connectivity beyond the UK to the US cities of Boston, Chicago, New York and Washington. The airline’s announcement followed just days after financially-troubled Indian carrier terminated its own operations on the route.
The route was previously served by Virgin Atlantic Airways between March 2005 and May 2009 but following its termination the UK carrier has retained a presence in the Indian market with its services to Delhi, a destination it has served since August 2000. According to the airline, since its departure from Mumbai, the number of people who have flown between London Heathrow and Mumbai has grown by nine per cent to more than one million passengers, making it Heathrow’s 12th busiest long-haul route. The Delhi route has also seen recent growth with Virgin’s own traffic up 20 per cent in the last 12 months.
“Virgin Atlantic is proud to be flying to Mumbai again, linking this wonderful city to our key destinations of London, New York, Boston, Washington and Chicago. India’s phenomenal growth continues to drive travel to the UK and the USA and we know our passengers are going to love the connections the new flight offers,” said Steve Ridgway, Chief Executive Officer, Virgin Atlantic Airways.
The airline will utilise one of its new Airbus A330-300s on the route which will be configured in a three class arrangement with seating for 30 passengers in Upper Class, 48 in Premium Economy and 185 in Economy. The aircraft will also be fitted with the airline’s new upgraded Upper Class Dreamsuite providing an enhanced offering to premium passengers.
The Mumbai – London Heathrow route is already served by Air India, British Airways, Jet Airways and up until this week by Kingfisher Airlines - together these operators will provide 35 weekly flights from next month. In the past year an estimated 531,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route.
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