SUDIPTA DEV – Mumbai
Virgin Atlantic that relaunched its London-Mumbai flights after a gap of a few years is also looking at Goa, Bengaluru and Hyderabad as the new destinations in India. “We will try to get slots and sometime relatively soon hopefully we will start operations,” said Sir Richard Branson, president, Virgin Atlantic. The airline is making a product investment of 300 million pounds in the Indian market.
Branson pointed out that flights to Mumbai were discontinued due to lack of right slots in Heathrow, which has been rectified this time. “Virgin Atlantic has been flying for 30 years and rarely have we discontinued a route. Most business for Mumbai comes from America, now we have the right slots and we’ll make a success of it. We have a brand new plane (A330) and once we have build the market with this plane, the new Dreamliner will be inducted,” he stated. Virgin Atlantic has been waiting for the fleet of 787 Dreamliners that will make a difference of US$ 18 million to its bottomline.
Pointing out that the airline has a very good relationship with Jet Airways, Branson acknowledged that in the future it is likely that Virgin Atlantic might become part of a bigger alliance.
The airline has deployed a brand new A330 on the London-Mumbai route with new upper class suite, 2.5 metre bar, inflight entertainment and mood lighting. “We have tailored it for Indian passengers with Indian meals, Bollywood films, and considering that Indians usually carry a lot of luggage, two bags free in economy and 96 kg of free baggage for the upper class,” said Stephen King, general manager (India), Virgin Atlantic Airways.
“The great news for consumers is that when Virgin Atlantic flies somewhere our competitors slash their fares. We will be price competitive. We’ve got a very popular upper class and premium class cabin,” added Branson.
