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Virgin to offer Indian triple helpings from summer-updated

[ November 19, 2019   //   ]

Virgin Atlantic to introduce a second daily service between Heathrow and Delhi in its summer programme for 2020 which, together with its new service to Mumbai launched in October, will give three daily flights to India.

The new schedule will see the introduction of a second daily Boeing 787 service to Delhi Indira Gandhi Airport, commencing on 29 March, departing from Heathrow in the morning and complementing the current evening departure.

The Boeing 787-9 offers up to 26 tonnes of cargo capacity on every flight. Traffic from India includes high volumes of perishables, pharmaceuticals and courier shipments.

Transatlantic customers will also gain an additional weekly service to San Francisco, departing every Friday.

Executive vice president commercial Juha Jarvinen said: “The second daily service from Heathrow is an excellent opportunity to meet customer demand on this route and, coupled with our new service to Mumbai, we’re able to offer even more choice.”

Johannesburg will become the first non-US route to receive Virgin Atlantic’s new A350 aircraft, with a daily service from March 2020. The aircraft is already significantly boosting cargo capacity on its current routing between London and New York, with its next services earmarked for Los Angeles, followed by San Francisco and Lagos.

By August, Virgin Atlantic’s A350 aircraft will fly to five destinations across its network and all its flights to Africa will be on the new aircraft.

The new Airbus A350-1000s have achieved record loads since going into service.

The airline has so far taken delivery of three A350-1000s as part of a 12-strong order and a fourth aircraft will join the fleet in December followed by phased deliveries of the rest in 2020-21. On its launch trans-Atlantic route between London Heathrow and New York JFK, the A350 has increased average cargo capacity to 27 tonnes on every but individual loads have reached 41.17 tonnes.

Managing director of Virgin Atlantic Cargo, Dominic Kennedy, added: “India, South Africa and Nigeria are very important and growing routes for our cargo business, so our commitment to offer more capacity connecting customers in these countries to their prime UK and US markets will help to open up opportunities for more import and export growth.”

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