India, UK to sign new air service agreement increasing flights from London Heathrow Airport

India and United Kingdom (UK) are likely to finalise a new agreement which will allow airlines to deploy more flights between Delhi, Mumbai and London Heathrow airport. Sources said that the new agreement will increase the quota of flights between the two Indian cities to London from 56 to 70 per week. With London having a large Indian diaspora, these routes are one of the most lucrative for airlines as the UK is one of the top tourist and business destinations for Indians.

The air service agreement between India and UK is structured differently with caps on flights based on destinations. According to an open sky agreement signed in 2017, there are no limits on flights between Indian cities except Bengaluru and Hyderabad where there is a capacity limit of 14 flights per week.

However, for flights between Delhi, Mumbai and Heathrow, there is a capacity limit of 56 flights per week which is being increased to 70. The need for expanding the agreement arose because airlines of the UK like British Airways and Virgin Atlantic had exhausted their quota and were unable to launch any new flights.


While British Airways currently operate 54 flights per week connecting Mumbai and Delhi with London, Virgin Atlantic operates 42 flights per week.

“Flight capacity to Mumbai and Delhi are subject to air services agreement. I think as demand grows, it is very important that the policy keeps pace with that. Ultimately, we should have liberalised air service agreements to allow development of direct services, British Airways CEO Sean Doyle had told the Economic Times in June.

“Estimates indicate that by as early as 2025, India will become the third-largest aviation market globally, following the US and China. We see strong demand from India to UK across a range of segments – holidaymakers, corporate travellers, students, and passengers visiting their friends and relatives,” a Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said, adding it has no plans to add more flights to Delhi and Mumbai.

Among Indian airlines Air India and Vistara operate to London from Delhi and Mumbai. Indian airlines have however said that while they intend to launch more flights, the slot constraint at Heathrow Airport doesn’t allow them to expand.

“We will only take advantage of this new agreement if Heathrow airport gives us more slots,” said an executive of an Indian airline saying that they have requested the government to intervene so that Indian carriers get slots.

Airport Coordination Limited, the agency that manages slots at UK airports, said that slot allocation process is independent of the bilateral agreement between countries.

“London Heathrow is historically full as the air traffic movement cap is fully allocated and due to the scarce nature, the number of slots that return to the pool for reallocation is extremely limited. Where slots are not available at London Heathrow, we encourage applications at other London airports and in recent years we have seen Indian airlines serving London Gatwick and London Stansted,” Richard Cann head of Coordination at ACL said.