Virgin Atlantic to launch services on Delhi-Manchester route

Premier carrier Virgin Atlantic on Tuesday said it will launch air services to UK's third largest city Manchester from New Delhi from October 26 this year.

Manchester, which has a sizeable population of Indians, was earlier being served by the now defunct Jet Airways, which used to fly to the UK airport from Mumbai five times per week.

For the first time, Virgin Atlantic will fly from India to Manchester, starting October 26, the airline said in a release.

The new flights will be up for booking from March 3, it added.

Virgin Atlantic already flies to London's Heathrow Airport with daily service from New Delhi and Mumbai.

With the commencement of operations on Delhi-Manchester route, the airline would offer a total of over 6 lakh seats seats per year between India and UK, it said.

"The year 2020 marks our 20th anniversary of flying to India and as the destination continues to grow in popularity for both business and leisure travel, we're thrilled to announce for very first time a new service flying three times a week from Delhi to Manchester, our home in the north," Virgin Atlantic Chief Commercial Officer Juha Jarvinen said.

The new service will also be Virgin's first flight to Asia from Manchester, the airline said, adding that A330-200 aircraft will be deployed to service the new route.