Virgin Atlantic will relaunch flights between London Heathrow and Mumbai on 27 October, after a four-year hiatus, with the airline's cargo team hoping the new service will boost volumes.
The airline will operate a Boeing 787-9 aircraft on the daily service, whose schedule will align with flights to and from the US. Virgin Atlantic and its partner Delta Air Lines offer a combined total of over 28 daily flights between London and the US.
Virgin Atlantic also flies to Delhi from London.
Dominic Kennedy, managing director of Virgin Atlantic Cargo, said: “We have given our cargo customers direct access to the vibrant cargo market in India for 19 years and, in 2018, our cargo revenues ex India rose 10% as support grew for our daily Delhi flights.
“The Mumbai market is equally buoyant. In the last four years, the overall market from Mumbai to the UK and US has increased by more than 50% in revenue terms, alongside increases of 46% to India from both countries.
“When we resume Mumbai operations in October, we aim to win a strong share of this growing market, supported by our fast and easy connections over London to and from major cities across US and our enhanced capabilities for handling pharmaceuticals, one of the main types of shipments ex Mumbai. More capacity is great news for our import and export customers,” Kennedy added.
Virgin will also launch flights to Tel Aviv in September 2019 and to Sao Paulo in 2020.
