[AMcWhirter]

Air India is poised to join British Airways and Virgin Atlantic on the non-stop London-Bengaluru route from April.

But whereas the former two airlines operate daily from Heathrow, Air India will fly out of Gatwick

There will be four Air India flights a week and all will be non-stop.

Note that schedules not yet been posted on the carrier’s website but it’s understood Air India will operate an afternoon flight Bengaluru-Gatwick with an overnight return.

Bengaluru will be the fifth Air India destination to be served from London Gatwick.

As we reported in January 2023 Air India was moving four flights from Heathrow to Gatwicj at the end of March (2023).

Air India to fly to Gatwick from Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Goa and Kochi

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jwhi56, Auto Alpha, christ, Inquisitive, DannyBoy

[DannyBoy]

Do we know if the AI planes will have the new hard product on these routes?

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jwhi56

[Johnnyg]

I was informed last night by a friend from Gatwick that the proposed timings are 20:05pm arrival and a 21:35pm departure. 5 x weekly. Commencing April. Dehli is likely to be added later this year.

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jwhi56, Auto Alpha

[MarkivJ]

AI pre pandemic used to fly BLR – LHR 3x weekly. LGW is a definitely a downgrade BUT much needed as this will cater to mostly O&D and not so much transit pax.

DannyBoy: I believe these will be their battered 788s and hence, old product. I’m sure even as the new aircraft come in (and not sure if they’re refurb’ing the old ones), I doubt LGW will be top of the list!

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jwhi56

[cwoodward]

Soon to be 7 days a week I would wager.

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Woodpecker, MarkivJ, AMcWhirter

[SimonS1]

Let’s hope they sort out immigration then, there is already a long queue at the non automated gates when the AI flights arrives, usually with plenty of unmanned desks.

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jwhi56

[laviation]

They were rumoured to be adding MAN – Mumbai 4 weekly this summer but no sign of that.

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jwhi56

[MarkivJ]

cwoodward – they’d have to. From intl traffic (esp EU and NA) perspective, BLR is huge. Prolly the 3rd in india.

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jwhi56

[BackOfThePlane]

As Air India are now really pushing point-to-point services between Gatwick & India, I wonder whether they are considering Calcutta? Yes, I know there is limited business traffic between the UK & Calcutta but I would have thought (especially with no direct competition on the route) that it could support 2 or 3 weekly 787-8s.

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jwhi56, sparkyflier

[cwoodward]

With its lower cost base (than BA) and no restrictive air services agreement it seems logical that AI would fly to KOL providing it has the Gatwick slots. Calcutta lost several airlines during the pandemic and some including CX are yet to return but the airport is still the 2nd most profitable in India, has newish terminals and 2 good runways.

I have only visited once (as a tourist) but the city is a popular and an international tourist destinations due to its diverse cultures its past as India’s largest port, a centre of history, art, and culture. Its British colonial past is reflected in the architecture- Raj Bhavan, Writers’ Building and the Victoria Memorial Hall etc Kolkata is also home to many of the best educational institutes in the country.
I enjoyed the city and found it much calmer and sophisticated than most Indian cities and would given the chance visit again.

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jwhi56

[Auto Alpha]

According to sources at BLR, this flight has been delayed to late May/early-June because AI wants to build their domestic presence at BLR first. Many LH routes ex-BLR will soon follow.

And, you’d be surprised to know, AI had been planning this flight for nearly a year and a half but when they realized they would not get the LHR slots, they swapped to LGW.
And, Virgin started planning the BLR LHR flight after hey came to know of AI’s plans.

With BA also upgrading equipment to A35K this summer, this route will see a drastic change to what it is currently.

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jwhi56

[sparkyflier]

The schedules for their LGW Indian routes are very attractive for UK and Indian residents – far nicer than most LHR flights into BOM/DEL.

Well done to AI for starting these direct routes and BLR is a good idea!

What counts against AI is how clean their 788s can be . A friend flew them in the past months and said his J cabin was “not at a cleanliness level he was comfortable with”.

I have not travelled much in India but on a separate note did fly Jet Airways a few years ago on a domestic flight and it was simply one of the best short hauls I have ever been on. Comfy 737 and the crew super kind and attentive and with a very tasty and substantial meal all on a short flight. It was outstanding. It is a pity they went bust based on my experience.

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jwhi56

[AMcWhirter]

AutoAlpha – if what you say is correct then it might explain why Air India has not yet included non-stop LGW-BLR service on its website.

In fact Virgin Atlantic also planned its service many months ago.

On June 5, 2023 Mark posted news of Virgin Atlantic starting LHR-BLR in March 2024.

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jwhi56

[BackOfThePlane]

Assuming it goes ahead, it will be interesting to see whether Bengaluru can support 3 airlines flying from London.

I will go with my earlier post and say that, if it’s going to be on an old aircraft, AI would be better operating Calcutta – London (because of the lack of competition, not because Calcutta deserves old aircraft!).

Both BA & Virgin will be able to benefit from feeder traffic, a Heathrow base and, for now at least, a superior product.

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jwhi56, cwoodward, sparkyflier

[MarkivJ]

BackOfThePlane: BLR can support 3x London from a load-yield factor perspective (I understand yield is a challenge in a market like india for foreign carriers).

The greater Bengaluru area is 4th highest in india in terms of population (11.5mil), and location of the airport makes it closer to residents of southern Andhra Pradesh as well (I know several who’d fly out of BLR instead of HYD). So, add in that catchment area as well.

BLR as a city has grown a lot the last 2 decades due to migration from other parts of India (IT, service and biotech) that there’s a sizeable demographic across all classes (the rich CEO wanting to fly premium to the cost saving family going on holiday) and purposes (biz, leisure, VFR, transit).

Even when waiting to board a flight to BLR from UK or EU, I’m always amazed how unlike a flight to chennai (where I hear predominantly Tamil) or HYD (where I hear mostly telegu) etc etc, the BLR flight is just never just Kannada but an even split of major Indian languages – speaks to the varied demographic here.

Finally, and for some of the reasons above, a lot of Indian carriers like indigo, AI, Vistara etc have chosen to make Blr their southern india hub so I’m sure an intl flight, esp one to London will attract a lot of transit traffic.

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AMcWhirter, jwhi56, sparkyflier, BackOfThePlane

[Author]

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