Virgin Atlantic today marked 25 years of flying to India and its ongoing commitment to growth in the region. Since first launching flights between London Heathrow and Delhi in July 2000, India is now the airline’s third largest market and has grown from zero to one million seats each year, with five flights daily from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Growth of 350% since 2019.
Alongside options for customers, the increase in flying is also a huge boost for cargo operations with additional capacity to support the movement of goods from the fashion, pharmaceuticals and tech sectors. With five daily services, Virgin Atlantic Cargo offers over 53.4 million kg of space to and from India, a 356% increase in capacity versus 2019.
Virgin Atlantic CEO, Shai Weiss and Chief Commercial Officer, Juha Jarvinen marked the occasion this morning, alongside local crew with Indian and British flags in front of India Gate.
Virgin Atlantic’s services offer seamless connectivity and a premium long-haul experience onboard one of the airline’s latest products, the Airbus A350, with 40% of Indian customers choosing to connect via London Heathrow to destinations throughout North America, including the airline’s new service to Toronto, as well as Seattle, San Francisco and New York JFK.
In addition, Virgin Atlantic’s partnership with IndiGo, India’s largest airline, offers connections to 36 destinations across India including Varanasi, Amritsar, Srinagar, Goa and Lucknow. Since the launch of the partnership in September 2023, the airlines have connected more than 200,000 customers across codeshare services.
Virgin Atlantic continues to invest in its onboard experience for Indian customers. A recent recruitment of Indian based crew ensures that each flight to India will now average three Indian crew on every flight speaking Hindi and local dialects – double that of 2024. UK based cabin crew have also undergone cultural training to better understand and meet the needs of our Indian customers. A variety of new dishes that reflect the rich culinary heritage of India including vegetable korma with almond basmati, saag masala and naan, masala dosa, medu wada, spinach uttapam, sambhar and curry leaf chutney are now available onboard and customers can enjoy a selection of Indian movies, TV series and Bollywood albums on the inflight entertainment.
Shivani Singh Deo, India Country Manager at Virgin Atlantic said: “We couldn’t be prouder of all Virgin Atlantic has achieved in our 25 years of flying to India, growing our offering from zero to one million seats and expanding from Delhi to Mumbai and Bengaluru. Our premium service offers a brilliantly different experience to the market, offering seamless connections to Canada, USA and beyond via London Heathrow, as well as throughout India by leveraging the power of our commercial cooperation with IndiGo. We look forward to welcoming many more customers over the next 25 years, surprising and delighting them with our onboard service with extra Indian touches, delivered by our amazing crew.”
Virgin Atlantic offers five flights a day to London Heathrow - one daily to Bengaluru, and twice daily to both Mumbai and Delhi. For those anticipating their next trip away, visit here or follow the airline on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
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Notes to Editors
For further press information please contact the Virgin Atlantic press office on press.office@fly.virgin.com
About Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Atlantic was founded by entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson in 1984, with innovation and amazing customer service at its core. In 2024, Virgin Atlantic was voted Britain’s only Global Five Star Airline by APEX for the eighth year running in the Official Airline Ratings. Headquartered in London, it employs 8,500 people worldwide, flying customers to 28 destinations across four continents throughout the year.
Alongside shareholder and Joint Venture partner Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic operates a leading transatlantic network, with onward connections to over 200 cities around the world. In February 2020, Air France-KLM, Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic launched an expanded Joint Venture, offering a comprehensive route network, convenient flight schedules, competitive fares and reciprocal frequent flyer benefits, including the ability to earn and redeem miles across all carriers. Virgin Atlantic joined SkyTeam in March 2023 as the global airline alliance’s first and only UK member airline, enhancing the alliance’s transatlantic network and services to and from Heathrow and Manchester Airport.
Virgin Atlantic has been pioneering sustainability leadership for more than 15 years, committing to Net Zero by 2050 and continuous action that reduces environmental impact. The airline operates one of the youngest and most fuel-efficient fleets in the skies, with an average age under seven years. In October 2022, Virgin Atlantic welcomed its first A330-900’s to the fleet, continuing its transformation towards 100% next generation aircraft by 2028. In November 2023, the airline led a consortium to deliver the world’s first flight across the Atlantic on 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), demonstrating that 100% SAF can be used safely as a drop in fuel in existing infrastructure, engines and airframes. The need to scale production is an industry imperative and Virgin Atlantic is committed to radical collaboration across the energy chain to support commercialisation ahead of 2030. For more information visit www.virginatlantic.com or via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @virginatlantic.