Virgin Atlantic relaunches flights to Mumbai after a four year gap

Looking to fill a gap left by the collapse of India’s Jet Airways, Virgin Atlantic is returning to Mumbai after a four year absence.

The airline has announced a new daily flight which will launch on 27th October at the start of the Winter timetable.

Tickets will be on sale from next Tuesday.

Virgin Atlantic has a codeshare and partnership agreement with Jet Airways before it collapsed, and the airline clearly believes that the demand exists for a dedicated Virgin Atlantic service.  The airline has also said that there is strong demand for extra cargo capacity on the route.

How will the new Virgin Atlantic Mumbai service operate?

The Mumbai service will have an early morning arrival into, and departure from, Heathrow in order to connect with as many UK-North America flights as possible.

The outbound will leave Heathrow at 10.15, arrving at 00.40

The return will leave Mumbai at 02.55, arriving at 07.35

It will use a Boeing 787-9 aircraft with 31 Upper Class seats, 35 Premium and 192 Economy

It is worth noting that this is in addition to, and not replacing, the existing Delhi service.

This is the 3rd new Virgin route announcement this year

Mumbai will be Virgin Atlantic’s 27th route from London Heathrow.  Flights to Tel Aviv launch in September 2019 (see our HfP article here) with flights to São Paulo starting in 2020 (see our article here).

Didn’t British Airways just announce a new Mumbai service too?

From 2nd June, BA will operate an additional four flights per week to Mumbai.  The additional service will operate on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday outbound.

However, as Jet Airways had been operating up to three flights per day from Heathrow to Mumbai, overall capacity is still substantially down on what it was.

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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, the Reward+ card has a bonus of 18,000 Virgin Points and the free card has a bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points):

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

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Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

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American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points.

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American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

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The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 50,000 Virgin Points.

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The Platinum Card from American Express

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Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.

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American Express Business Gold

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Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points.