Virgin Atlantic Touches Down In Mumbai

Hype and hoopla...The exact terminologies to describe any Virgin Atlantic Airways’ launch and that was the exact scenario when the inaugural flight landed at Mumbai International Airport. Totally Indian, Sir Richard Branson was dressed in dhoti and kurta, both at the launch and subsequent media briefing. The flight marked the launch of Virgin Atlantic’s second Indian route, as the airline already has daily services to Delhi.

Commenting on the launch, Branson said, “Virgin Atlantic has long wanted to expand its services to India and so we are all delighted that this has now been made possible. These new services were desperately needed as the route has previously been significantly under served with a large proportion of passengers being forced to travel through other Indian cities or often through third countries adding time and inconvenience to journeys. The route will benefit from increased competition, which Virgin will provide and will ultimately lead to better value for money and quality of service for passengers travelling on the route.”

Elaborating on the future, Branson mentioned, “I would like to thank both governments for the success of the last bilateral talks. Talks are vital as the business and leisure demand to fly between India and the UK continues to exceed the capacity even at the recently increased level. We hope that these talks produce sufficient new frequencies so we can fulfill our ambition of flying triple daily services to India. Daily services to Mumbai and several more to other cities like Bangalore.”