Virgin Atlantic to pull out its Mumbai-London flights

Mumbai: Virgin Atlantic has decided to pull out its Mumbai-London flights from May 3, 2009 onwards. Termination letters have been issued to its ground staff and cabin crew based in Mumbai. According to a report in Times of India (ToI) by Manju V, “Our Mumbai-London daily flights will be terminated from May 3, 2009 onwards. As and when the economy looks up and the sector turns profitable, we will come back,” said Neha Lidder Ganju, Senior Marketing Manager (India), Virgin Atlantic. However the airline will continue its Delhi-London flights.
The airline had launched its Mumbai-London flights in March 2005 with Airbus 340-600. During that period, flying on the Mumbai-London route turned cheap as three more airlines- Jet Airways, Air Sahara and bmi had launched flights on this route to compete with Air India and British Airways. Even as Virgin Atlantic increased its frequency from three flights a week to daily services by 2005 end, cut-throat competition led to a drastic reduction in launch fares. When the airline launched, the economy fare for a Mumbai-London return was Rs 27,000. When Virgin Atlantic became daily in December 2005, the return fare came down to Rs 17,777. The fare has now come down to Rs 9,990 for a Mumbai-London return ticket on airlines like British Airways and Jet Airways.
12/03/09 TravelBizMonitor

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Categories: Foreign Mar 2009