AI mulls another Mumbai-London non-stop service

Passengers from Mumbai may get a new connection to London in the coming months, as national carrier Air India (AI) is planning to start a non-stop flight from Chhatrapati

Passengers from Mumbai may get a new connection to London in the coming months, as national carrier Air India (AI) is planning to start a non-stop flight from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International airport (CSMIA) to Stansted Airport.

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Airline sources said that the carrier could not get a slot at London’s Heathrow Airport after which it now plans to apply for a slot at Stansted.

This will be the airline’s second connection from Mumbai to Britain’s capital. AI currently operates one non-stop flight from Mumbai to Heathrow. The source said that AI may deploy its flagship Boeing 787 Dreamliner to operate the new service. Air passenger traffic on the Mumbai-London route has increased by 25% in the last five years. “It is expected to go up by 27% this fiscal year, following the resumption of services on the route by Virgin Atlantic in October. Such a situation arose despite the grounding of Jet Airways that had three daily services to London Heathrow from the city,” said a Mumbai airport official .

“There is a need for more traffic to London. However, due to the slot constraint issues at London Heathrow, we are not able to add new flights on the route. There are options to go to London Stansted from Mumbai. We are evaluating this route,” said Ravi Bodade, Air India regional director. Currently, despite being able to operate 42 flights per week to London, Air India has utilised only 50% of the slots.

“The airline is carrying out a route feasibility study on passenger traffic, aircraft type, and frequency of operations. We will decide on this issue very soon,” Bodade said, adding that operations may commence within the winter schedule itself. The winter schedule is effective from October 27 and continues until March 28, 2020.