New Delhi
National carrier Air India announced on Saturday, that it will commence daily, non-stop services between Bengaluru and London Heathrow starting October 27. This new route will connect London Heathrow to all three of Air India’s hubs in India.
The new service will replace Air India’s existing Bengaluru-London Gatwick route, increasing the frequency of flights from five times a week to daily service.
According to Air India’s statement, the non-stop service will be operated using a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, featuring 18 flat beds in Business Class and 238 spacious seats in Economy. This addition will enhance capacity to London Heathrow by 3,584 seats weekly, both inbound and outbound. Currently, Air India operates 31 flights weekly to London Heathrow from Delhi and Mumbai.
The airline will continue to maintain 12 weekly flights to London Gatwick from four Indian cities: Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Goa, and Kochi.
Earlier this month, Air India announced that flights operated by Vistara will adopt the flight code ‘AI2’ following the merger of the two airlines next month. Despite the integration on November 12, the Vistara experience will reportedly remain unchanged.
In the nine-month period from January to September this year, Air India, managed by the Tata Group, transported over 16.4 million passengers, capturing a market share of 13.9%. Vistara held a market share of 9.8% with 11.5 million passengers, while AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia India), also part of the Tata Group, carried 6.1 million passengers, achieving a 5.1% market share, according to DGCA data.
