In the past six months, Air India has launched nine flights to international destinations.
Air India‘s senior official said that the country’s flag carrier is considering launching service between Mumbai and London’s Stansted and doubling operations to Toronto from Delhi.
According to the official, there is great demand for international flights, especially to London or Greater London, with Stansted being a “good option”.
Currently, Air India operates 42 weekly flights to London. “We started an Ahmedabad-London service. We thought this would reduce pressure on the Mumbai-London sector. But it hasn’t. Interestingly, Ahmedabad-London and Mumbai-London services are both doing extremely well,” the official said.
The Stansted operations will be thrice a week for the summer schedule, said the official. He added that AI will be flying six times a week between Delhi and Toronto, up from the thrice-a-week service now.
Currently, Air India operates a flight between Stansted and Amritsar with the Dreamliner aircraft. Besides Air India, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are the two other airlines flying to London from Mumbai. In the first half of FY2021, Vistara, too, is expected to start operations to London.
“We are evaluating the option to start operations either at Gatwick or Stansted. We will take a decision soon,” said Ravi Bodade, Air India’s Regional Director of the western region.
