On October 26, IndiGo will take off from Mumbai to 
London Heathrow. A long time coming, this route was officially announced on October 6, meaning less than three weeks’ notice has been given to drive sales and awareness. This is an exceptionally short amount of time. Its codeshare agreement with Turkish Airlines and the awareness surrounding its Mumbai-Manchester operation will help somewhat.
On November 15, IndiGo will launch its second route to Manchester, which will be from Delhi. This is despite the continued detour to avoid Pakistani airspace and the consequent increased time and operating costs. Running four times weekly, it will become IndiGo’s third UK route.
IndiGo Will Soon Launch Its 1st Flights To The UK Capital
Using slots leased from Virgin Atlantic, IndiGo will serve Heathrow’s Terminal 3. It will operate daily from Mumbai to the UK’s busiest airport. This will, of course, be on the 338-seat Boeing 787-9 leased from Norse Atlantic, which is increasingly moving away from scheduled flying to focus on leasing and charters. IndiGo’s Mumbai-Manchester schedule has changed to enable its new London link.
As everyone knows, the local London-Mumbai market is enormous. In the 12 months to July 2025, booking data shows that nearly 700,000 round-trip passengers flew between the two cities. IndiGo will target a proportion of this traffic, along with passengers connecting across India generally. Its schedule does not connect to/from cities in wider South Asia or in Southeast Asia.
Around three in four passengers flew nonstop aboard a growing number of carriers (more on that below). Needless to say, most of the others flew via Gulf hubs. In recent days, Emirates added more London flights, with a record 13 daily departures available during the upcoming winter. Qatar Airways and partner British Airways plan up to five London flights in 35 minutes.
|
Days |
Mumbai To Heathrow; Local Times |
Days |
Heathrow To Mumbai; Local Times |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Fri |
13:10-17:45 |
Fri |
19:50-10:05+1 |
|
Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Sat, Sun |
14:45-19:20 |
Thu |
21:10-11:20+1 |
|
Mon, Tue, Wed, Sat, Sun |
21:30-11:45+1 |
Heathrow Will Now Have Up To 9 Daily Mumbai Flights
Until now, the record number of departures was eight daily. The arrival of IndiGo means there will now be up to nine daily takeoffs. According to Cirium Diio data, Mumbai will have 249 one-way flights in October, becoming Heathrow’s fifth most-served long-haul market. Only these places will have more winter flights: New York JFK (571 each way), Doha (340), Dubai (339), and Newark (265).
Heathrow-Mumbai will be served by five airlines again, as shown below. Consider the schedule on the randomly chosen Saturday, November 15. On that day, Mumbai-bound departures will leave Heathrow at 09:30 (British Airways), 12:00 (Air Canada), 12:20 (Virgin), 13:30 (Air India), 16:15 (British Airways), 17:45 (Virgin), 20:25 (British Airways), 20:30 (Air India), and 21:30 (IndiGo).
|
Airline |
November Operations |
|---|---|
|
Air Canada |
Four weekly 787-8 |
|
Air India |
Two daily 777-300ER |
|
British Airways |
16 weekly (two to three daily) A350-100, 777-200ER and 787-9 |
|
IndiGo |
Daily 787-9 |
|
Virgin |
Two daily A350-1000 and 787-9 |
Air Canada’s fifth freedom operation runs seasonally, beginning/ending in Toronto. In winter 2024/2025, it flew Calgary-Heathrow-Delhi. In winter 2022/2023 and 2023/2024, it flew Toronto-Heathrow-Mumbai. While a daily service was previously scheduled, it has reduced flights to four weekly.
3 More Long-Haul Airlines Are Due To Begin Heathrow Flights…
Everyone knows that Heathrow is one of the world’s most slot-constrained airports. Slots are available, just in small amounts, usually during off-peak times and particularly over the weekend. They may not be at the right times or in the right quantities. This is why many airlines, including IndiGo, lease them.
On October 26, both IndiGo and Air Peace will debut at the UK’s busiest airport. The Nigerian operator, which already serves Gatwick, had long expressed its desire to fly to Heathrow. It obtained slots three weekly service through the usual pool. It will continue to serve both London airports, which will increase costs and complexity. However, it will allow it to get a foothold at the airport it most desires.
Despite not being officially announced, Heathrow is widely expected to be Riyadh Air’s first long-haul destination. While October was slated to be its launch month, it is highly likely to be pushed back. It will use slots obtained from British Airways via the bmi slot release procedure. Then there’s Alaska Airlines, which has disclosed Heathrow flights for 2026, but further details are not yet available.
