Virgin Atlantic launches a codeshare deal on IndiGo flights in India

Virgin Atlantic’s flights to the Indian subcontinent originally started as a way to mop up traffic during covid, when its bread-and-butter routes to the United States were blocked from carrying tourists.

Whilst it has operated to Delhi since 2000, flights to Lahore, Islamabad and Mumbai were launched in Autumn 2020. They were so successful that one person I spoke to suggested they ‘saved’ the airline from collapse (cargo was another factor, of course.)

It appears Virgin Atlantic has decided to keep operating the routes and has now forged a relationship with Indian airline IndiGo to offer better connections. IndiGo is India’s largest airline and operates under a low-cost model.

The agreement is formed of two phases. Phase one will see Virgin add its flight numbers to IndiGo flights to seven Indian cities:

• Chennai
• Bengaluru
• Hyderabad
• Kolkata
• Ahmedabad
• Amritsar
• Goa
• Delhi
• Mumbai

This will be followed by phase two, later this year, which will increase the number of cities to sixteen and let IndiGo offer connections to the United States on Virgin Atlantic flights via Heathrow. The additional cities include:

• Kochi
• Chandigarh
• Jaipur
• Pune
• Coimbatore
• Nagpur
• Vadodara
• Indore
• Visakhapatnam

Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin said: “This summer marks our largest ever flying programme from India with three daily direct services to London and our new partnership takes our commitment to even greater heights.”

Flights between the UK and India are becoming increasingly competitive. British Airways flies to five Indian cities whilst Virgin Atlantic flies to two. Tata-owned airline Vistara has launched flights to London and is hoping to expand its offering once Boeing delivers more 787s.

A number of start-ups are also planning to launch flights to the region. Hans Airways hopes to make a go of it from Birmingham to Amritsar and flypop will also attempt to launch low-cost long haul flights.

…. and Virgin Atlantic expands Pakistan flights

In addition to offering better connections in India, Virgin Atlantic will offer an additional weekly flight to both Lahore and Islamabad in January and February 2023.

This takes Virgin Atlantic to 10 flights weekly to Pakistan.

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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (September 2023)

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 15,000 Virgin Points):

SPECIAL OFFER: The sign-up bonus on the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard is doubled to 30,000 Virgin Points if you apply by 2nd October. You receive 15,000 Virgin Points with your first purchase and a further 15,000 points if you spend £3,000 within 90 days. Apply here.

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

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.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 30,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 30,000 Virgin Points.

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

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

(Want to earn more Virgin Points?  Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)