The airline starts daily Airbus A330 passenger and cargo flights between Mumbai and London Heathrow on October 29th 2012 and has already seen the offer of strong support from customers to and from India, particularly for connections to its major U.S. gateways.
One of Virgin Atlantic's Airbus A330s
John Lloyd, Director of Cargo at Virgin Atlantic, said: 'On all of the routes we serve, we give freight forwarders and shippers in that market another choice to reach destinations all over the world. Mumbai is a thriving commercial centre and has a consistently strong exchange of trade with the UK but we are also seeing a high level of interest for transhipment traffic over London to our destinations in the U.S. The timing of our schedules means we can offer very competitive same day and next day services for shipments from India to the U.S.'
Fast transfers in London mean exports leaving Mumbai on Virgin Atlantic's daily 03.10 (local time) flights arrive the same day in New York JFK by 16.50, Los Angeles by 18.55 and Newark by 19.05. Virgin Atlantic also offers customers in India next day deliveries to other destinations in the U.S.
The new Mumbai service is in addition to the airline's daily flights from New Delhi to London, one of Virgin Atlantic's top performing cargo routes over the last 12 years. Customers in India can access the full Virgin Atlantic network which covers 350
destinations worldwide. Virgin Atlantic Cargo has extended its GSA agreement with InterGlobe in Delhi to also cover Mumbai.
By doubling its cargo capacity to and from India, the airline also hopes to make a significant contribution towards the UK Government's ambition of doubling trade and investment with India by 2015. The UK's biggest exports to India include precious metals and jewellery as well as power generation and general industrial equipment. Apparel and clothing accessories are the UK's biggest import commodity from India, worth some '1.1 billion a year.
Flights from London Heathrow Airport will depart every day at 10.15 GMT arriving into Mumbai at 00.55+1 (local time). The flights from Mumbai will arrive into London Heathrow at 07.55 (GMT).
