Virgin Atlantic reaches pre-Covid level traffic to India

UK-based Virgin Atlantic has already received thumping passenger traffic growth to India and is expecting to better its position this year. It will be tapping into the US transit segment

PRAVASISAMWAD.COM

India has an Air Bubble agreement with the UK. Alex S McEwan, Country Manager, South Asia for Virgin Atlantic, was quoted by news agency IANS, saying that the India operations of the airline were already at pre-Covid levels. But he said that “the growth in our services from the UK to USA will offer even more connectivity and choice to Indian customers when travel restrictions permit”.

In September, the airline started daily services from Delhi and though bookings growth has plateaued due to Omicron, the performance continues to be encouraging and “traffic is far higher than it was this time last year”, McEwan said.

“Omicron had stunted the growth in bookings…So far that has not forced us to make many changes to our global schedule. Particularly over the Christmas and New Year period, many passengers remain determined to travel.”

— Alex S McEwan, Country Manager, South Asia for Virgin Atlantic

The main body of fliers for Virgin Atlantic, according to McEwan, have been from the ‘Visiting Friends and Relatives’ (VFR) segment and students since the start of Covid. However, he said that the airline was also seeing growth in other segments like corporate travel. “We have some corporates who have travelled with us throughout Covid even when restrictions were at their tightest because they have in-person projects in the UK,” he said.

Omicron, however, had stunted the growth in bookings. “So far that has not forced us to make many changes to our global schedule. Particularly over the Christmas and New Year period, many passengers remain determined to travel,” McEwan said.

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