Premier British carrier Virgin Atlantic, which had stopped its Mumbai-London services in 2009, would re-launch these daily flights from October, saying India's "phenomenal growth" in air traffic had led to this resumption. 

The first Virgin flight would depart from London's Heathrow airport on October 28 and the return flight the next day, a Virgin spokesperson said. 

The daily flights would serve the UK and open up easy connections from London to several US cities including New York, Boston, Chicago and Washington, she said, adding that the flights have been timed to offer US connections with less than a two-hour-wait in Heathrow. 

While the air traffic between Mumbai and London has grown by nine per cent since 2009, the Delhi-London and New York service of Virgin was enjoying a 20 per cent growth last year. 

"Virgin Atlantic is proud to be flying to Mumbai again, linking this wonderful city to our key destinations of London, New York, Boston and Washington. India's phenomenal growth continues to drive travel to the UK and the USA," airline President Richard Branson said in a statement. 

The Mumbai flights to be operated by "our new Airbus 330-300 will feature our brand new Upper Class Dreamsuite. We'll continue to offer Indian entertainment and delicacies on board served by local Indian crew. Importantly the plane is also our most fuel efficient aircraft", Branson said. 

The flights from Mumbai would depart daily at 0310 hours and arrive into London Heathrow for 0755 (GMT), while those from London would operate at 1015 GMT arriving Mumbai at 0055 hours the next day. 

The spokesperson said tickets for the Mumbai-London flight would be on sale with travel agents soon and available on Virgin website from April four. 

To questions whether Virgin would be interested in investing in Indian airlines, she said, "We are focussing on our routes to and from India not on investing in India's carriers." 

Maintaining that the resumption of this service would create 100 more jobs in India and the UK, she said withdrawal of the Mumbai service in 2009 was a result of the recession and "was a temporary decision". 

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