Virgin Atlantic to double flights from India

Richard Branson promoted-Virgin Atlantic is planning to double its flight capacity from Mumbai and Delhi to London. Virgin Atlantic currently operates non-stop flights on the Mumbai-London-Mumbai and Delhi-London-Delhi routes.

'' Indian routes has registered over 70 per cent load factor. And now we are planning to increase the frequencies to two flights a day from Mumbai and Delhi to London," Joe Thompson, general manager, (India), said.

Thompson said the airline is also looking at south Indian destinations. "We are looking at destinations including Chennai,Hyderabad and Banglaore," he said.

He said an international association of airlines is slated to submit a representation to withdraw the 12 per cent service tax on transport of passengers (other than economy class) embarking on an international journey by air.

Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic has launched an upper class suite on its daily flights on Mumbai-London and Delhi-London routes.

The airline would also introduce Wi-Fi facility and mobile phone connections in the aircraft soon.The upper class suite offers a reclining seat which can be converted into a fully-flat bed at the touch of a button.

This is in addition to the existing features of Virgin Atlantic's upper class, which include an onboard bar, a massage parlour and a chauffeur-driven pick up and drop service for travel to and from the airport.

The upper class suite has now been introduced in all Virgin Atlantic's 747-400, and A340-600. Five A340-300 aircraft operating on the Indian routes are configured with 34 upper class suites, 35 premium economy seats and 171 economy class seats.

''The airline is confident the upper class suite would win a larger share of the business and first class travel markets and would prove popular with both corporate and leisure travelers," Thompson added.