India’s two largest carriers will be increasing capacity to the UK, amid strong demand for travel between the two countries.
National carrier Air India will add a four more weekly flights between capital Delhi and London Heathrow from 26 October, bringing its total frequencies to 28 times weekly.
All flights will be operated with Airbus A350-900s or Boeing 787-9s, the Star Alliance operator states.
Air India operates the most flights between India and the UK. The expanded operations to London Heathrow also come as the carrier restores frequencies on other routes that it cut in June and July following the fatal crash of an Air India 787-8 in Ahmedabad.
Flights between Amritsar and London Gatwick resumed operations in October, after being suspended between July and late-September.
Bengaluru-London Heathrow will return to daily frequencies – up from four times a week currently, while Delhi-Birmingham flights will be restored to thrice a week, from twice weekly at present.
Separately, compatriot IndiGo confirmed it would be ramping up flights to Manchester from Mumbai and Delhi from November, following “positive response…and strong demand for travel between India and the UK”.
Flights between Delhi and Manchester will increase to five times a week from 15 November, while Mumbai-Manchester flights will go up to four times a week from 17 November.
The flights will be operated by 787-9s that IndiGo has damp-leased from Norse Atlantic Airways.
The capacity increase comes as IndiGo prepares to launch daily operations from Mumbai to London Heathrow, with the first flight set to take off on 26 October.
“The UK-India corridor is a high-potential market, driven by strong economic ties between the two nations and an ever-expanding Indian diaspora in the UK,” the carrier states.
